A week after four residents of the William F. James Boys Ranch
escaped after a fight between 14 members of rival gangs at the
county Probation Department facility, two of the four are again in
custody, this time at Juvenile Hall in San Jose.
A week after four residents of the William F. James Boys Ranch escaped after a fight between 14 members of rival gangs at the county Probation Department facility, two of the four are again in custody, this time at Juvenile Hall in San Jose.
According to the Santa Clara County Probation Department, one of the boys turned himself in and the other was apprehended.
The boys, who were not considered a major threat to the community, according to Chief Probation Officer Sheila Mitchell, escaped from the facility Jan. 12.
Neighbors of the facility, located in a wooded, rural area at 19050 Malaguerra Ave. in northeast of Morgan Hill near Anderson Lake Park, attended the Morgan Hill City Council meeting Wednesday evening to ask for more communication from the facility about escapes and to demand better security.
Last year, there were 100 escapes or attempted escapes.
Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming said Thursday that he is anxious to work with the county and the probation department and the neighbors to address the concerns of the neighbors.
“I’m hoping to set up a meeting with all the interested parties within the next few weeks,” Cumming said Thursday.
Cumming said the majority of the escapes happen during a youth’s first few days at the facility. He described the ranch as being on an “honor system” that works for boys whose crimes or situations don’t warrant their being sent to Juvenile Hall.
The facility is not fenced but is surrounded by a creekbed and has a gate. It is not considered a secure facility. The property has dorms for the boys, classroom facilities, recreation rooms and a dining hall.
The boys range in age from 16-18.
Mitchell said Friday that her department is aware of the concerns of the neighbors.
“We are absolutely concerned about the well-being of the community,” she said. “Our staff continues to act swiftly and responsibly – two of the escapees are now in custody. We also have made a number of changes and increased our patrols of the facility.”
Since stepping into the position in September, Cumming said, Mitchell has made some changes in procedure.
“For one thing, they used to notify of us of an escape with a fax,” he said. “Our dispatchers are busy, they are on the phone, they can’t hang around by the fax machine waiting for news of an escape. A phone call is much better.”
Mitchell said she and her staff have reviewed policies and procedures designed to reduce escapes, and she has appointed a new superintendent to oversee the facility.
John Gibbs, chief of staff for County Supervisor Don Gage, said he, Gage and County Executive Pete Kutras, a Morgan Hill resident, have met several times with neighbors of the ranch, and until the two latest incident, believed the situation was greatly improving.
“About five or six really positive things have occurred, but in the meantime, those two things have occurred,” Gibbs said Friday. “During the meetings, the neighbors have been thoughtful, had constructive ideas, and we all went away happy. The last meeting particularly was a real positive meeting, and I believed this was on the road to being a non issue.”
The two incidents that stirred things up, Gibbs said, were the escape of the four boys on Jan. 12, and, in December, an assault on a Morgan Hill woman.
“The suspect was reported to have escaped from the ranch, but he wasn’t a ranch escapee,” he said. “He had been at ranches in past, at Muriel Wright, but he was not a resident at the time. It was widely reported wrong.”
Gibbs said until March of last year, authority for the ranch was held by the courts, but in the March election, Measure A passed, and oversight became the responsibility of the county.
“This is truly a county issue, and we are committed to working with everyone concerned to take care of this,” he said. “We are going to do everything in our power to make sure the neighbors feel safe.”
There are other factors to consider as well, Gibbs said.
“State laws regulate what can and what cannot happen at that site,” he said. “The bench (judges) makes the decision who goes there, evaluate who is sent there, if they are a flight risk … And they (judges) are independent thinkers.”
Mitchell said the county will continue to work with the community, the courts and the criminal justice system, as well as Morgan Hill city representatives, to make improvements in the situation as necessary. “James Ranch is a juvenile rehabilitation facility,” she said. “We are committed to seeing the youth succeed in this program, and we also are committed to being good neighbors.”
Younger male offenders and girls are confined at the Murial Wright Residential Center at the top of Bernal Road in southwest San Jose near Santa Teresa Park and IBM.
Until June 30, 2004, the Morgan Hill site housed the Harold Holden Ranch and James F. Boys Ranch. At that time, the younger boys were moved to the Murial Wright center at the top of Bernal Road in southwest San Jose near Santa Teresa Park and IBM.
Youths sentenced to the boys’ ranch through the juvenile court system typically commit less serious offenses than those sentenced to the California Youth Authority facility in San Jose.
Youths are sentenced to CYA for felonies and crimes involving violence.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at md****@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106
