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WEBVTT SKILLS PROGRAM FOR YOUNG OFFENDERS. VICKI: INSIDE STOCKTON’S YOUTH CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, TWO DOZEN JUVENILE OFFENDERS ARE EMBARKING ON A NEW TRAJECTORY, OF OPPORTUNITY. >> WE COME FROM A LONG HISTORY OF VIOLENCE WHEN WE COME TO JAIL, AND I WANT TO BREAK THAT VICKI: DAY ONE OF CODING CLASS, AN INTRODUCTION INTO STARTUPS, DESIGNING WEBSITES, APPS, AND IN TURN, OPENING THE DOOR TO THE TECH INDUSTR >> I FEEL LIKE THERE’S A LOT OF YOUTH IN HERE WHO HAVE A LOT OF IDEAS AND NEVER GET A CHANCE TO PUT THEM OUT THERE. VICKI: TECHNOLOGY TRAINING, TAUGHT BY GOOGLE EMPLOYEES, VOLUNTEERING THEIR TIME, AND EXPERIENCE, ON BEHALF OF THE TECH GIANT’S PHILANTHROPY ARM. >> WE’RE ABLE TO TAP INTO OUR INCREDIBLE EMPLOYEES AND HAVE THEM ENGAGE WITH THE STUDENTS DIRECTLY. VICKI: GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM WANTS THIS PROGRAM TO BE THE START OF A COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION OF THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM. >> A FOCUS ON GETTING UNDER THE HOOD OF WHAT TRAUMA THESE YOUNG CHILDREN HAD IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT TRIGGERED SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES, ACTIONS, AND BAD DECISIONS THAT LED THEM HERE. VICKI: THIS CODING CLASS IS PA OF A BIGGER OVERHAUL OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. GOVERNOR NEWSOM WANTS TO PULL THE DEPARTMENT OF JUVENI JUSTICE AWAY FROM THE ADULT SYSTEM, AND INTO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. THE GOAL, A JUVENILE SENTENCE PROVIDING BUILDING BLOCKS OF OPPORTUNITY. >> SO WHEN I GET OUT I CAN FEED MY FAMILY. I’VE GOT A DAUGHTER. SO, I’M REALLY DOING THIS FOR KID. AND BASICALLY TO TEACH PEOPLE IN MY SITUATION THAT THEY CAN CHANGE. VICK AND ULTIMATELY BREAKING A CRIMINAL CYCLE INTO ADULT PRISONS. >> COME IN HERE AN LEARN SO I CAN BREAK THE CHAIN CYCLE OF MY FAMILY AND THE RECIDIVISM THAT WE HAVE WITH THE SYSTEM. VICKI: IN STOCKTON, VI

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Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday proposed to change the way California's juvenile prisons are overseen, eventually closing facilities to cut what he called the "ludicrous" cost."If we're going to get serious about changing the trajectory of the lives of these young children, I think we need to do it through a different lens and not the traditional corrections lens," Newsom said at one of the state's four remaining juvenile detention centers.The Democratic governor is asking state lawmakers to put youth prisons under California's Health and Human Services Agency. Youthful offenders currently are overseen by the same agency that runs adult prisons.The current system isn't working, he said, with about three out of four young offenders arrested again within three years of their release. More than half are convicted of new crimes and more than a third are soon back in state custody, according to 2017 figures.Juvenile justice in Stockton"If we're going to change the criminal justice system, let's start at the 'feeder system,' which is the juvenile justice system," Newsom said after touring the O.H. Close Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton on the inaugural day of an 18-month technology training program for two dozen juvenile offenders.The program is designed to teach students coding for website and application design, thereby opening the door to the tech industry. “I like it. I want to expand my thinking process and come in here and learn so I can break the chain cycle of my family and the recidivism that we have with the system,” said 19-year-old Juan Cruz-Lopez Jr. “We come from a long history of violence when we come to jail and I want to break that.”The technology training program already exists in adult prisons, where it is led in collaboration with the nonprofit The Last Mile, as well as in partnership with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Prison Industry Association.“Once I came to jail, we did the same thing every day. We don’t really have anything to look forward to when we get out as far as jobs,” said 19-year-old Byron McBee. “But now, this supplies me with a job and gives me a better outcome. So when I get out, I can feed my family. I’ve got a daughter.”Students at the Stockton juvenile correction facility will benefit from a new addition. Google employees are volunteering their time and experience as instructors, as part of a $2 million donation from the tech giant’s philanthropy arm, Google.org.“I think there’s a lot of youth in here who have a lot of ideas and never get a chance to put them out there,” 20-year-old Perrion Hamilton said. “I think this class is a new opportunity to learn for those who want to expand their mind to grow. And (it) gives us another opportunity when we come home.”The Last Mile says the technology training program is expected to grow over two years, to more than 500 students across 14 classrooms in California, Kansas, Indiana and Oklahoma. “Don’t get this twisted. This is not just about you getting a job to make money,” Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs said. “It’s about giving you the skills and the resources so when you’re out, you make this world a more just and inclusive place.”Cost criticism Newsom on Tuesday also criticized the annual cost, which tops $300,000 per young offender, noting that's the tuition of four private colleges combined.The cost has spiraled as the number of offenders has plummeted from more than 10,000 juveniles incarcerated in 11 state facilities in the 1990s to the roughly 650 housed now in four facilities, including one firefighting camp. The population is projected to reach about 760 youth next year because of various legal changes. Youths as young as 12 can be sent to the facilities and, in some cases, can remain until they are age 25, though many are transferred to an adult prison when they turn 18.The remaining juvenile facilities are operating at about a third of their design capacity, the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice calculated.High fixed costs with fewer juveniles "are always the big burden," Newsom said. "That's why it's right to talk about closing facilities if it's possible, if it's doable. But you've got to protect the workers. That's something that's sacrosanct to me."The influential prison guards union, a Newsom ally, said it will fight to keep the same employees with the same peace officer status. Newsom said any closures would be worked out within 12 to 18 months. The governor said he's finding broad consensus among legislators to move juvenile offenders from under the adult system.Some critics said Newsom's plan, first mentioned in his state budget, goes too far, while others said it doesn't go far enough to dismantle the state-run juvenile justice system.Maureen Washburn, of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, called Newsom's proposal "an important recognition of the failure of the state's current approach. ... To be successful, this reform must end our reliance on large, costly, and remote facilities and bring young people closer to home where rehabilitation can happen most effectively."Nearly 4,500 other juvenile offenders are in county detention facilities. But lawmakers have rejected previous attempts to send all the remaining state-held juvenile offenders to county lockups, with local officials saying they may be ill-equipped to handle the most violent or sexually predatory youth.Stephanie James, probation chief in San Joaquin County and president of the Chief Probation Officers of California, said Newsom may wind up interfering with a decade of reforms that she credited for record low juvenile arrest and detention rates.Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put what was then the California Youth Authority under the umbrella of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in 2005.The Pacific Juvenile Defender Center's policy director, Sue Burrell, said most states already have an independent juvenile justice agency or include it under a health and human services agency.She called Newsom's proposal an important and welcome step "because it suggests a different way of thinking about young people who get into trouble."But she said the juvenile system needs more independent oversight, and in her view, California should eventually stop using large prison-like institutions in favor of smaller facilities near offenders' communities.---KCRA's Vicki Gonzalez contributed reporting to this story.