County Probation probes how youths left without staff
knowing
n By Marilyn Dubil
Staff Writer
The Friday morning escape of two teens from the William F. James Boys Ranch was thwarted by an alert Morgan Hill citizen. Now, Santa Clara County Probation Department officials want to find out why Ranch supervisors weren’t aware the boys were missing until contacted by police.
The Probation Department, led by Chief Probation Officer Sheila Mitchell, is investigating the escape.
“I’ve called for an internal affairs investigation to determine how and why this escape occurred,” Mitchell said Monday in a statement. “We’ll know more and take further action when the investigation is complete.
“This latest escape is a disappointment. So many new measures have been put in place, including early notification of local police, increasing the number of staff members at the ranch, retraining existing staff and reviewing policies and procedures.”
Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming said he, too, wants to know how the youths left the facility without the staff being aware.
The two teens, aged 15 and 17, left the facility at approximately 8:30am Friday and were spotted after 9am near the Marie Callendar’s restaurant at Cochrane Road and Sutter Boulevard. A citizen noticed the pair, who were wearing the khaki-colored tops and green bottoms of the Ranch uniforms.
All five MHPD officers on duty at the time responded to the call. The two escapees fled; one was quickly caught, and the second was apprehended approximately 45 minutes later in the business park area of Madrone Parkway in north Morgan Hill.
The probation facility is located several miles away on Malaguerra Avenue in a wooded, rural area near Anderson Lake County Park.
The Ranch has come under intense scrutiny lately, after a series of escape attempts and complaints by neighbors.
Since January, a total of eight teens in three separate incidents – including Friday’s escape – have run away from the Ranch. All have been caught.
Concerned neighbors have been vocal, demanding tighter security for the non-fenced facility. A series of meetings between neighbors and county and local officials have been productive, according to County Supervisor Don Gage.
Gage said Monday he had received one call about Friday’s escape.
“They have a reason for concern, although with the attempts this year, we haven’t had any violence,” said Gage. “There could have been a problem … This is my district, and I’ll take care of it.”
Although improvements in procedure have been put in place, there is more to be done, Mitchell conceded.
“The number of escapes compared to previous years has declined significantly. However, we want to eliminate them all together,” she said.
Gage said installing a fence around the facility has been discussed during meetings with neighbors, but fencing is a “controversial issue.”
“And it doesn’t guarantee that people won’t escape,” he said. “There are still ways of getting out that would not notify Ranch officials. But the GPS system would. Officials would know immediately that someone has escaped.”
The county is considering GPS anklets for Ranch inmates; Gage said funding for the system – estimated to cost between $275,000 and $400,000 – would be discussed at an upcoming meeting.
The fence cost was estimated at $5 million.
“We need to get this system in place. We need to hear the results of the investigation, then we’ll go from there,” Gage said. “We want to do what is needed to take care of this. Although the neighbors who bought property there should have been made aware of the Ranch, that should have been disclosed in any purchase, that’s not an excuse. We still need to keep people safe.”
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, ext. 202
