The escape of eight young inmates this week — all known gang members — raises a host of questions about how Monterey County incarcerates dangerous youth.
Any argument about the real threat they pose would seem weak in light of the 10 bodies loaded into body bags on Salinas streets from gang shootings this year alone.
By the Probation Department's own acknowledgement, many in the Monterey County Youth Center are housed for violent crimes. Yet the gang members escaped by throwing a chair through a window — hardly a secure-sounding facility.
The Probation Department plans an internal investigation to answer the question, "How could this have happened?"
Not to sound flip, it happened by youth throwing a chair through a window. The question that should be asked is: "What do we need to do to ensure the safety of the public?"
An internal investigation is indeed in order, but we suggest the magnitude — both in the number of escapees and their violent gang affiliations — requires nothing short of a county Grand Jury investigation.
As of this printing, police and sheriff deputies have not apprehended the youth. Potentially there are eight more young triggermen at large ready to spray Salinas streets with bullets for little more than bragging rights.
Perhaps it's time to re-examine the threat level these youth represent.
The city of Salinas has sought the advice of experts at the Naval Postgraduate School on anti-insurgency techniques it uses to battle terrorists. That speaks volumes.
Should an investigation — internally, by the Grand Jury, or any other outside agency — disclose that security levels at the Youth Center are far too lax for the young but dangerous inmates held there, we urge the county to act swiftly to protect the community while these offenders are winding their way through the juvenile criminal justice system.
http://www.thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011109090324
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