San Francisco Youth Commission
Youth Justice Committee
Minutes
Thursday, September 13th, 2012
5:00-7:00 p.m.
City Hall, Room 345
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 5:00pm sharp. Commissioners present: Carrion, Monge-Rodriguez. Staff present: Truong, Yedidia.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

Commissioner Carrion, seconded by commissioner Monge-Rodriguez, moved to approve the agenda. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. July 18th, 2012

Commissioner Carrion, seconded by commissioner Monge-Rodriguez, moved to approve the minutes. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

4. Public Comment on Items not on Agenda (Discussion Only)

There was none.

5. Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. Check in

Commissioners and staff shared one positive aspect and one negative aspect of their respective weeks. There was no official action taken.

B. Review 11-12 committee priorities and work

Commissioners reviewed the Youth Justice Committee’s work in fiscal year 2011-2012 on recreation access at Juvenile Hall and recommendations made to the Police Department.

C. Committee goals

2012-2013 Committee Issues-of-Interest

• Pursuing recreation access at Juvenile Hall
o advocating for full use (capital & operational dollars)
o proof that youth are going outside
• Pursuing the 3 police recommendations
• Working with currently-detained and on-probation youth to identify new, urgent issues/trainings & workshops with JAC (exposing system-involved youth to leadership opportunities
• Working from a perspective that includes family-friends-community members of youth justice system involved youth
• * Data on schools with highest student involvement in justice system (e.g. # of detentions, suspensions)
• * Data on schools with most successful outcomes for Black & Latino youth -develop compendium of best practices
• Focus on post-release programs (key problem point in system)
• Research mentorship programs with police and youth
Note: Non-quantitative data would be good, too. Maybe we should survey youth, especially Black & Latino men

D. Prepare for September 20 meeting with Chief Juvenile Probation Officer William P. Siffermann

Big Picture – this issue can be broken down into three “buckets”

1) The need for the Juvenile Probation Department (JPD) to prove that it is providing detainees with the minimum of 1 hour of outdoor large muscle activity (LMA) stipulated in Title 15, Section 1371

2) Guaranteeing regular access to the recreation area – this requires both one-time capital and ongoing operational dollars

3) Assessing and increasing the quality of the recreation program as it now stands.

The Players

Target: Chief Juvenile Probation Officer William P. Siffermann

Juvenile Probation Commission
Juvenile Justice Commission
JPD Ombudsman

Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth & families
Employees of Juvenile Hall (what unions?)

Mayor’s Office
Board of Supervisors

Action Items on all 3 buckets:

• Researching Title 15’s requirements regarding what and how reporting should be done (Paul).
• Researching existing reports from the Juvenile Justice Commission about Juvenile Hall (Angel).
• Researching the effects of institutionalization, especially when it comes to low motivation in going outside to do LMA (Angel).
• Asking for help and advice from the Youth Law Center on the next strategic steps (Angel).
• Asking JPD Ombudsman for list of recent complaints (Mario).
• Researching best practices in juvenile justice recreation (Angel, Paul).
• Analyze most recent surveys (all).

To communicate to/ask of Chief Sifferman at Thursday, October 4, 2012 meeting

Big picture:
Communicate that the Youth Justice Committee intends to pursue vigorously the issue of recreation access at Juvenile Hall; we’ve broken the issue down into 3 buckets.

Bucket 1
Can we please be provided a simple document that demonstrates how all detainees are being provided with the minimum of 1 hour of outdoor large muscle activity (LMA) stipulated in the state Code of Regulations?
If not, can you please begin tracking that 1 hours of daily LMA – and in a format that is simple?

Bucket 2:
What will it take to make this a capital and operational priority?

Bucket 3:
Address the results of the survey.
How is the preparation of the recreational services RFP coming along?
E.

E. Elect Committee Chair

Commissioner Carrion was unanimously elected chair.

6. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00pm sharp.