1. There is no summer
in juvenile hall.
Field Report
Nidorf Juvenile Hall, Sylmar, CA
Naomi Bradley, AACWM missions coordinator

2. There is no summer in juvenile hall.
In fact, your summer may have been interrupted
by an arrest and your first few lonely hours of
realization that you cannot change your past, that
your future has changed forever, that you wish
you hadn’t done it, or that you didn’t do it but
nobody believes you, or that things might have
been different for you if you had lived in a
different place and time.

3. There is no summer in juvenile hall.
No visits from family or friends, or your mom
and/or your dad or your foster mom or granddad
do visit, but not often, or they come often but they
always look sad, and you try not to cry but it
breaks your heart to think that you can’t leave
with them when they go because the youth
correctional officer and the locks and chains on
your wrists and ankles are making sure of that.

4. There is no summer in juvenile hall.

5. LA County Juvenile Detention Facilities
3 Juvenile Halls (LA, Downey, Sylmar)
19 Probation Camps
53,830 juvenile arrests (2003)
* 30,697 Hispanic (57%)
* 12,207 Black (23%)
* 8,005 White (15%)
* Male 75%
* 5% <12 years
* 50% ages 16-17

6. Justice Dept. findings, April 2003
LA County Juvenile Halls
We conclude that failure to provide proper
rehabilitation, education, opportunities to
use the telephone and participate in
religious programming, insufficient
provision of translation services for
Limited English Proficient (LEP) youth,
and an ineffective grievance system also
violated residents’ rights under the 14th
Amendment and other applicable laws.

7. March 3 Observations
“We learned that the 250 young men
received 15 minutes a month outside, and
30 minutes of school per day.”
“An idle mind is definitely the devil’s
playground.”
Rebecca Alexander

8. March 3 Observations
“These children are so hungry for direction
and truth.”
“If God hears the prayers of anyone, it is
the children.”
Rebecca Alexander

9. The Good News
• Justice Dept. monitoring
• March 28 meeting with chief probation
officer
• Driver Education classes
• Tutoring/Academic Advising
• Two church commitments
• Caring and dedicated
chaplains/volunteers

10. Funky Buddhist Monk

11. Our Mission
“Let the little children come to me, and do
not hinder them, for the kingdom of God
belongs to such as these.” Luke 18:16

12. LA County Juvenile Halls/Camps
MANDATORY VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION
Saturday, April 7, 10am-noon
African American Center for World Mission
1605 E. Elizabeth St., Pasadena
Presenter: Protestant Chaplain Carradine
RSVP
naomi@aacwm.org (626) 345-1794