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Staffers inside a notorious youth prison near Stockton could have averted the suicide of an 18-year-old ward this summer if they had heeded warning signs, including the ward's repeated pleas for help, the state's prison watchdog agency said Thursday. State Inspector General Matthew L. Cate said Joseph Daniel Maldonado of Sacramento never saw a mental health counselor, despite asking for one four times in his last year. The one time he was offered counseling, he turned it away. According to the report from the state Office of the Inspector General, no one evaluated Maldonado's suicide risk during the eight weeks he was locked alone inside his Pajaro Hall cell at the N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility. For three of those days, he participated in a hunger strike under pressure from gang members, the report said. On Aug. 31 - the day he hanged himself with a bedsheet - Maldonado had papered over the narrow window of his cell door, but prison staffers didn't unlock his cell until 38 minutes later, when they found him lifeless. Staffers are supposed to check wards visually every 30 minutes. Cate said the state's youth prison system failed its mission to rehabilitate Maldonado. Critics who also read the report arrived at harsher conclusions. "They're as responsible as if they tied the sheet around his neck, as if they whispered into his ear every night to go ahead and do it," said Jakada Imani, a spokesman for the Oakland-based civil rights group Books Not Bars. Imani said the 30-page inspector general's report punctuates the urgency to close Chaderjian, an option prison officials have dismissed. At the very least, Maldonado's family should receive an apology and negligent prison staffers should be fired, Imani said. "Anything else they do sends the message that this man's life wasn't worth saving," he said. Maldonado, who was 5 feet 6 inches tall and 120 pounds, was convicted of auto theft and committed to the state's youth prison system in April 2004. He was transferred from the Preston Youth Correctional Facility to Chaderjian for behavioral problems. The report described Maldonado as angry. At age 7, his father was shot dead, and his mother has a long criminal history, including drug abuse. State corrections officials responded to the report in a two-page letter explaining they've already made changes to ensure there are no more suicides. Extended lockdowns have nearly ended, and prison staffers statewide have received more suicide prevention training, officials said. With few exceptions, no more wards are admitted into Chaderjian, which has reduced the amount of violence, the response said. "It was critical to change the culture of this facility, and active steps were taken in August to significantly improve conditions," Bernard Warner, chief of the state's Division of Juvenile Justice, said in a written statement. He promised more changes. Warner in recent weeks unveiled plans to reform the entire youth prison system under terms of a lawsuit settlement. Among them is to turn Chaderjian into a special treatment facility for wards with sexual and psychological problems. He said sweeping reforms that prison officials are working on will change the youth prison system from one that punishes wards to one that helps them return well-adjusted to their communities again. But Maldonado shouldn't have lived under abysmal conditions that drove him to suicide while top prison officials in Sacramento for years have talked about reforms, insisted Sue Burrell, a staff attorney for the Youth Law Center in San Francisco. Burrell, who read the inspector general's report, described Maldonado as a "120-pound car thief" who was thrown into a "den of heavy hitters" at Chaderjian. A ward in a neighboring cell was a leader in the northern Latino gang structure who spent time in adult prison before returning to Chaderjian, the report said. Maldonado lost all hope after being locked up indefinitely without the chance of going to school, getting counseling, exercising or getting protection from powerful gangsters. There's little surprise he ultimately chose to kill himself, Burrell said. "There was really no way out for this kid," she said. "If we can't take care of a kid like that, what hope is there for our system?" The full report on Joseph Maldonado's death is available here, from the CA State Office of the Inspector General (PDF format) |
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