[News] Video shows beatings of youth

[News at freedomarchives.org]

The link below includes the video.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/04/02/CYA.TMP
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Friday, April 2, 2004 (SF Chronicle)
SACRAMENTO/Video shows beatings of youth/Counselors at Youth Authority
should be charged, senator says
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau


    Sacramento -- Pushing alleged brutality at the California Youth Authority
facility into public view, a state senator Thursday distributed to the
media video footage of counselors at a Youth Authority facility beating
two wards.
    State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, said it was "foolish" no one had
been prosecuted yet over the violent altercation in Stockton, and she
called on Attorney General Bill Lockyer press charges against the
counselors. At a press conference in the Capitol, Romero provided copies
of an internal Youth Authority video and showed the footage to reporters,
at one point using slow-motion to show one counselor kicking a ward in the
head.
    Romero's move was criticized by a Lockyer spokesman and Youth Authority
officials, who said she was jeopardizing probes into what happened Jan. 20
at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility.
    But Romero said she was tired of talking about problems inside California
lockups and wanted action. Romero has been a leading legislative advocate
for prison reform as the state's corrections system faces multiple legal
challenges.
    "At some point we must say enough is enough," Romero said. "We've held
hearings; we've read expert reports; we've read court transcripts; we've
heard the anguished testimony of parents of CYA wards in this very room.
... To remain silent any longer is to admit our past efforts to reform and
overhaul youth corrections in California have been hollow rhetoric."
    The video released Thursday - which was shot from a camera mounted in
Pajaro Hall at the Stockton facility - is grainy and at times out of
focus. But the tape clearly depicts a brutal encounter involving two wards
and nearly a dozen Youth Authority employees.
    A supervising counselor, Delwin Brown, kneels on the back of ward
Narcisco
Morales, 21, landing punch after punch to Morales' face. Another
counselor, Marcel Berry, kneels on the neck of 19-year-old Vincent Baker,
punching Baker and eventually kicking Baker after the ward is handcuffed
and lying motionless on the floor.
    Another counselor fires pepper spray at both wards; yet another uses a
larger weapon, called a Pepperball launcher.
    An internal affairs report on the incident released last week recommended
charging Brown and Berry with assault and four others involved in the
attack with filing false reports.
    All six employees are on paid leave as the Youth Authority determines
whether any should be disciplined. So far, however, none faces criminal
charges.
    The San Joaquin County district attorney's office, which has jurisdiction
over the facility, has declined to prosecute. Jim Willett, an assistant
district attorney, said Thursday his office concluded the counselors had
been responding to an attack instigated by the wards.
    Willett said one of the counselors had "his face shattered." Prosecutors
did not believe a jury would convict any of the employees involved.
    Romero's calls for prosecution have not changed anyone's minds, Willett
said.
    "We're not re-reviewing the matter," he said. "Our decision is made."
    Lockyer's office is reviewing the case, too, and has the authority to
file
charges. Romero said she was considering legislation to give the attorney
general even more power to prosecute such cases.
    But a spokesman for the attorney general blasted Romero for releasing the
video. "This is something that is in a criminal investigation file," said
Nathan Barankin. "It's a key piece of evidence."
    Barankin complained that defense attorneys for the counselors could use
the public airing of the video in their case.
    "There's nothing that a prison guards defense attorney would like more
that an excuse to move the trial to Fresno," Barankin said.
    At least one prominent Bay Area defense attorney called that complaint
nonsense,' however.
    "It's a videotape. It is what it is," said Cris Arguedas, noting she
could
not think of a how the senator's actions would have a bearing on a
criminal trial.
    "It sounds like the agencies that could prosecute this have been doing
nothing, and Sen. Romero is shining a light on an abuse that needs to be
corrected," she said.
    Romero received the videotape from the Prison Law Office, the Marin-based
legal group that has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Youth
Authority for inhumane conditions. The release sparked national interest;
CNN ran portions of the video Thursday.
    Romero and Don Spector, executive director of the Prison Law Office, said
the video clearly showed a case of excessive force. But an official with
the union that represents most Youth Authority employees who attended the
press conference Thursday disagreed, saying there was more to the story.
    "I believe the counselors were defending themselves," said David Darchuk,
who is the chapter president of the California Correctional Peace Officers
Association at the Chaderjian facility.
    Youth Authority executives aren't so sure, however.
    Rod Hickman, secretary of youth and adult corrections for Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, and Walter Allen, director of the Youth Authority, are
keeping close tabs on an administrative investigation that could conclude
next week, a spokesman said.
    "The secretary and the director have both seen the video, and they don't
like what they saw," said Tip Kindel, assistant secretary of
corrections. ---------------------------------------------------------------
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Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle



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