U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ASKED TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED ABUSES IN SAN DIEGO JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITIES

By Miriam Raftery 

July 30, 2014 (San Diego's East County) - A complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice is alleging that authorities in San Diego’s juvenile detention facilities are endangering young people in custody through practices that pose substantial risks of serious harm, CityBeat reports.

This includes excessive use of pepper spray and strip searches, according to the claim filed by the Youth Law Center, California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. and a San Diego coalition of community organizations. 

The complaint contends that pepper spray is routinely used on young people with sensitive medical conditions and youths at risk of suicide, as well as on those who failed to follow directions and other situations.  Less harmful methods should be tried before extreme practices, the complaint argues.

The complaint follows a CityBeat investigation that revealed questionable tactics by authorities.  For example, a teen girl placed on suicide watch was ordered to strip naked in front of male guards. When she refused, she was repeatedly pepper sprayed in the face until she vomited.  She was then ordered to crawl out of the cell, handcuffed and had her clothes forcibly removed by guards, who stripped searched her. 

The groups are asking the Department of Justice to use its authority under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act and investigate alleged constitutional violations.

Civil rights lawyer Victor Torres states, “We understand that young people who get into trouble need to be held accountable, but these extreme practices just make kids more hostile to authority and less able to accept the help that is offered.”

County officials also received a copy of the complaint. The County has indicated that the County will review the report and welcome an opportunity to participate if an investigation is launched by the Department of Justice.

A Grand Jury investigation found no evidence of excessive use of pepper spray, despite the fact that it was used hundreds of times in a single year, and that the majority of juvenile justice facilities do not allow pepper spray .

CityBeat reports that in response to its initial investigation in 2012, East County Supervisor Dianne Jacob said she was “satisfied that the county’s current practices are responsible and reasonable measures to protect the safety of detention staff and juveniles in custody.”