Posted on 09/06/2006 10:06:45 AM PDT by SmithL
The teenager never got in trouble at school. He stood a head shorter than his attorney and probably weighed less than most courtroom observers at his trial.
Now he has a conviction that carries a sentence of life in prison with no parole, and state prison officials must figure out the most suitable place to lock up the 17-year-old murderer Scott Dyleski.
Dyleski is an example of 1,500 to 2,000 young male inmates sentenced to state prison each year. Their age, size and criminal history require consideration before state corrections officials decide whether to house them in prison or send them to the California Youth Authority until they are ready to join the general population at a state prison.
He could become one of dozens of juveniles and teenagers convicted of crimes as adults who are housed in the youth authority institutions on a temporary basis. Otherwise, he will be in prison, where inmates in his age group make up less than 2 percent of the population.
"There's a fight for space (in prison), a fight for privacy, everybody is in each other's faces," said Megan Doyle Corcoran, policy director for the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. "For somebody who is young and it's the first time in an institutional setting ... he'll be at risk."
A jury convicted Dyleski on Aug. 28 on adult murder charges in the killing of Pamela Vitale, a neighbor.
Investigators arrested him Oct. 19 -- less than two weeks before his 17th birthday. Since then, he has resided at Juvenile Hall in Martinez.
He is set for sentencing Sept. 26, about five weeks before he turns 18. He will go to the youth authority until his birthday, said corrections department spokeswoman Sarah Ludeman.
After his birthday, corrections officials will evaluate him to decide where he fits best.
Corrections officials may decide to keep him in the youth authority. He can stay there until he is 25, when he would be transferred to state prison.
Currently, 80 minors and young adults who have been sentenced to prison reside in youth authority institutions, according to the corrections department. Some are waiting to turn 18, when they will go to prison.
Dyleski also could go straight to state prison, where he will be among about 2,000 18- and 19-year-old inmates in a community of about 160,800 men who are incarcerated in state prisons.
Another option would be to place Dyleski in prison but in protective custody, out of the general population, Ludeman said. Inmates in protective custody leave their cells at times when the majority of other inmates are in their cells. Guards escort them to the cafeteria, showers and recreation areas for protection.
"You're around fewer people," Ludeman said.
Prison inmates have more free time outside their cells, but the prisons do not have mental health programs aimed at young adults like Dyleski.
Youth authority wards are locked in their cells for longer periods of time because of low staffing levels. That ends up giving them minimal assistance from the mental health and education programs in the youth authority facilities, she said.
"CYA hasn't quite gotten to become a rehabilitative model," Ludeman said.
Dyleski would get a private cell in the youth authority, rather than having to share a cell or triple-bunk bed in gymnasiums and other public areas in overcrowded prisons, Corcoran said.
"Because the population is much smaller, CYA might be safer," she said.
But neither prison nor the youth authority helps young adults change their patterns that got them incarcerated, Corcoran said.
"It's a choice between two devils," she said.
Maybe if we just posted a bunch of clown-cutouts around, each with a sign saying " You must be at least this tall to be a violent criminal"...
General population at Pelican Bay should do nicely,thank you.
But neither prison nor the youth authority helps young adults change their patterns that got them incarcerated.
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