Blog Note: This article refers to
grand jury reports.
Since 2010, San Diego County
has spent nearly $800,000 on repairs, remodeling and new equipment at the
Juvenile Ranch Facility in Campo, only to close it last week amid a decline in
the number of juveniles arrested over the past several years.
The money was poured into the
facility, one of two camps the county uses to house juvenile offenders, to fix
aging buildings and replace gas lines and utilities.
The arrest rates for juveniles
from 2009 to 2013, the period when much of the work was done, dropped 53
percent, according to arrest data from the San Diego Association of
Governments. Even with the decline, the county said
it had to spend the money on needed repairs and upgrades to an old facility
that a succession of civil grand juries — who tour detention facilities yearly
— have described as dilapidated and broken down.
The county cited the declining
population of youths sentenced to the ranch when it decided earlier this year
to shutter the camp, an official county historical site located in a rural area
about 65 miles east of San Diego.
That decision came after
several years in which the county spent $794,027 fixing up the ranch, according
to figures provided by the Probation Department. Among the repairs:
• In March 2013 the county remodeled the staff dormitory for
$126,700. Like most of the buildings at the ranch, the dorm was aging and in
need of repair.
• The same month the county spent $408,098 to replace 60-year-old
gas lines that served the camp. The lines were leaking.
• In December 2012 the county replaced roofs at the camp that were
also leaking Cost: $221,593.
• In 2013 a new heating and air conditioning unit was installed
after another unit failed, costing $3,999.
• In 2010 and 2011 the county spent $33,637 on repair and
maintenance projects that included a new hot water heater, tiling and carpets
in some buildings, installing an alarm system, new asphalt paving and dividers
in the showers in the camp dormitories.
“All work was done with the aim
of ensuring the health and safety of both our staff and the youth housed
there,” county spokeswoman Michele Clock said.
She said the decline in the
number of juveniles sent there was not foreseen.
“Probation’s juvenile
populations were not expected to make a sustained, long-term drop as they have
done. It wasn’t until early 2014 that it became clear that this drop was not a
cyclical reduction, but part of a permanent shift occurring.”
The ranch site is a county
historical landmark, known previously as Camp Lockett, which was a base for
cavalry regiments and served as a prisoner-of-war camp in World War II.
That historic designation has
restricted how much work can be done at the site, because of rules governing
how historic sites can be repaired, according to a report by the county’s civil
grand jury in 2013.
Despite that finding, previous
grand juries who visited the facility called on the county to make some fixes.
Five years ago, a grand jury report found the exterior of the buildings at the
camp were “deteriorating from a lack of maintenance and repair.”
The report urged the county to
repair and restore buildings and develop a schedule for routine maintenance.
The county agreed in part to do so as long as funding was available.
Last year a new grand jury came to
a different conclusion. The report noted the exteriors of some buildings were
still dilapidated and the interiors had to be painted. But the jurors noted the
decline in the camp population, which was 69 on the day they visited in
November. In 2010 the average daily population was 125.
The population drop led the
grand jury to conclude that the facility was underutilized and to recommend
that the county merge Campo with Camp Barrett.
That merger was completed
Friday, when the juveniles from Campo were transferred to Camp Barrett in
Alpine. The county said it expected to save $700,000 per year from closing
Campo.
August 11, 2015
San
Diego Union-Tribune
By
Greg Moran
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