Posted on 02/05/2005 9:22:36 AM PST by SmithL
SAN LEANDRO - Authorities are investigating claims that counselors at Alameda County Juvenile Hall set up after-hours wrestling matches involving young detainees -- and rewarded their participation with favors that may have included access to pornography.
Six staff counselors have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by Alameda County probation and sheriff's personnel, officials said Friday.
The claims first surfaced late last month when a teenage detainee told a counselor at Juvenile Hall about the wrestling matches, which allegedly occurred in the hall's maximum security unit on consecutive weekends at the end of 2004.
"The people involved may have been given special treatment," said Capt. Greg Ahern of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. "They may have been given special food items, or received privileges such as extra time outside their cells. They also may have been able to view pornographic material. I don't know if it was magazines, movies, CDs or the Internet."
Ahern said officials are probing allegations that one of the teens was injured in a wrestling match, but he has since left Juvenile Hall and has not yet been contacted by investigators. The injury is not thought to have been serious, he said.
Officials believe seven detainees, ages 17 and 18, may have been involved in the wrestling matches, which reportedly occurred after "lock-down," when youths at Juvenile Hall return to their cells for bed.
Built in 1953, the Juvenile Hall houses youngsters aged 13 through 18 who are charged with crimes and deemed by the courts to be a danger either to themselves or to the public. Most of the 255 detainees living at Juvenile Hall are awaiting judgment by the court, although a small percentage have had their cases resolved and are awaiting placement in other facilities.
News of the investigation left one of the county's top elected officials deeply disturbed. "If these allegations are true, it's absolutely unacceptable and we need to take the maximum steps allowable to penalize the people involved," said Supervisor Keith Carson.
"As a county there is no way we can tolerate people in our care, especially young people at Juvenile Hall, being placed in situations where their safety may be jeopardized," he said.
Carson said he also was chagrined to learn about the investigation from the news media, apparently a full week after county probation officials began their probe.
The investigation has been complicated by the fact that three youths said to have direct knowledge of the wrestling matches are no longer at Juvenile Hall. Interviewing them will be necessary to substantiate or disprove the allegations, Ahern said.
Though six counselors have been placed on paid leave, investigators said they believe a smaller number was directly involved in arranging the wrestling matches.
Donald Blevins, chief of the county probation department, which operates the 299-bed facility in San Leandro above Interstate 580, confirmed the investigation but would not comment further until his department completes its probe. Officials said that may happen in a matter of days.
The reports bear disturbing similarities to allegations of inmate "gladiator fights" at Corcoran State Prison that rocked the California prison system a decade ago.
They also are an unsettling reminder of an April 2001 incident in which three female counselors at Alameda County Juvenile Hall were accused of staging a fight between two female detainees -- and betting soft drinks on the outcome.
The three counselors were later convicted on child endangerment charges.
Ahern said the allegations in the current matter do not appear to involve coercion. But officials acknowledge that claims of offering "rewards" come close, considering that youths at Juvenile Hall may feel a strong need to please the staff assigned to watch over them.
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