1850
California became a state. There were no correctional facilities for juveniles. Some consideration was given to the need for a reform school at that time, but none was authorized.
Serious cases, about 300 boys under the age of 20, were sent to the state prisons at San Quentin (Marin County) and Folsom (Sacramento County), between 1850 and 1860. This included 12-, 13- and 14-year-old boys.
1859
The San Francisco Industrial School was founded on May 5, 1859 by an act of the state Legislature. The school opened with a total of 48 boys and girls, ranging from 3-18 years of age and a staff of six. It was run by a private board. Management could accept children from parents and police, as well as the courts. The program consisted of 6 hours per day of school (classroom) and four hours per day work. Trade training was added later. Releases were obtained by (1) discharge, (2) indenture, and (3) leave of absence, very similar to present day probation and/or parole.
1860
The State Reform School for boys in Marysville was authorized and opened in 1861. Age range: 8-18.
1868
The State Reform School for Boys at Marysville closed due to lack of commitments. Twenty-eight boys were transferred to the San Francisco Industrial School. The State donated $10,000 to the San Francisco Industrial School and agreed to pay $15 in gold coin per month for each child of the school.
During this year, girls in the Industrial School were transferred to the Magdalen Asylum in San Francisco
1870
The Legislature permitted commitment to the San Francisco Industrial School from the counties of Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda.
1872
The first "Probation Law" was enacted (Section 1203 Penal Code).
1876
The training ship Jamestown was transferred from the U.S. Navy to the City of San Francisco to supplement the San Francisco Industrial School. The ship was to provide training in seamanship and navigation for boys of eligible age. After six months, an examination was given and successful trainees were eligible for employment as seamen on regular merchant ships.
1879
The training ship was returned to the Navy due to mismanagement and a hue and cry that the Jamestown was a training ship for criminals.
1890
The Legislature enacted a law establishing two State reform schools. Both were part of the Division of Institutions, and both had trade training and academic classes. Commitments were made from Police Courts, Justice Courts, and Courts of Session for a specialized period of time or minority. These schools were: (1) Whittier State Reformatory (now Fred C. Nelles School in Whittier) and (2) the Preston School of Industry in lone (Amador County).
1891
The Whittier State Reformatory for Boys and Girls opened with an enrollment of 300 youth.
1892
The San Francisco Industrial School closed, and the Preston School of Industry opened.
1903
The Legislature enacted law establishing Juvenile Courts.
1907
All wards under 18 were transferred out of San Quentin by legislative decree.
1909
County juvenile halls were established.
1913
Ventura School for Girls was established and girls transferred from Whittier State Reformatory to Ventura.
1929
First statewide supervision began -- a Probation Office was created, under the State Department of Social Welfare.
1935
The Legislature authorized County Boards of Supervisors to establish forestry camps for delinquent youths.
1941
The Youth Corrections Authority Act was adopted by the California Legislature. The law:
1. Created a three-person commission appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
2. Mandated acceptance of all commitments under 23 years of age, including those from Juvenile Court.
3. Added a section on delinquency prevention.
4. Authorized no authority over existing state institutions.
5. Appropriated $100,000 to run the Authority for two years.
The Whittier School for Boys was renamed the Fred C. Nelles School in honor of the man who served as the facility's superintendent from 1912 to 1927.
1942
Preston School of Industry, Ventura School for Girls and the Fred C. Nelles School for Boys were separated from the Division of Institutions and became part of the Youth Authority.
The first ward committed under the Youth Corrections Authority Act--YA No. 00001 -- arrived at the new Youth Authority Unit, a diagnostic facility. The ward was transferred from San Quentin Prison, where he had been sent at age 14 after being convicted for second-degree murder. A "lifer," he had shot an uncle during a quarrel over ranch chores.
The Youth Authority moved to establish camps, and a unit -- Delinquency Prevention Services -- was established.
1943
Karl Holton was named first director.
The Governor transferred management of state reformatories -- Preston, Nelles and Ventura -- to the Youth Corrections Authority. Total wards in institutions, 1,080; total wards on parole, 1,625; staff, 517.
The State Probation Office turned over responsibility for delinquency prevention to the Youth Corrections Authority. The word "corrections" was dropped from title; hence, California Youth Authority (CYA).
Fifty boys transferred from county jails to the Calaveras Big Trees Park where they built a 100-bed capacity camp.
The Youth Authority acquired property and buildings formerly used by the Knights of Pythias Old Peoples' Home. Boys from Preston and the Calaveras Camp cleaned and renovated the grounds and buildings, and the Los Guillicos School for Girls was established in Sonoma County.
1944
The Youth Authority entered into a contract with the military for the establishment of two camps -- one at Benicia Arsenal and the other at the Stockton Ordnance Depot -- each with a population of 150 boys.
1945
The first boys arrived at Fricot Ranch School in Calaveras County. By Fall of 1945, 100 boys and a full complement of staff were at the school. The 1,090-acre estate was leased with an option to purchase for $60,000 and that option was exercised in 1946.
Many youthful offenders in detention homes, jail and two army camps were awaiting commitment to the Youth Authority. Army camps were closed after the war and the growing need for facilities became a crisis.
The Division of Parole was created and the parole staff consolidated.
The need was apparent for an older boy institution, and the Legislature authorized the California Vocational Institution at Lancaster (an old Army/Air Force Base).
A state subsidy was given to counties for establishment of juvenile homes, ranches, camps for Juvenile Court wards. The subsidy was administered by the Youth Authority.
Pine Grove Camp was established in Amador County.
1947
Camp Ben Lomond opened in Santa Cruz County.
The first wards arrived at the El Paso de Robles School for Boys (San Luis Obispo County) on September 30, (old Army/Air Base -- 200 acres and 40 barrack buildings -- purchased for $8,000.
1948
Governor Earl Warren called the first Statewide Youth Conference in Sacramento in January, with an estimated 2,200 people attended, including 200 high school and college youths.
1952
Heman G. Stark was named director and served until 1968. His tenure remains the longest of any CYA director.
1953
The Youth Authority was given departmental status.
1954
Northern and Southern Reception Centers opened, in Sacramento and Norwalk, respectively.
1956
Mt. Bullion Camp opened in Mariposa County.
1960
The Youth Training School opened in San Bernardino County.
1961
The Youth Authority was placed under the newly formed Youth and Adult Corrections Agency.
Washington Ridge Camp opened in Nevada County.
1962
Ventura School for Girls moved from its Ventura location to its present location in Camarillo.
1963
The state's Juvenile Court Law was modified.
1964
A reception center and clinic was established at the Ventura School for Girls, and the girls at the Southern Reception Center and Clinic in Norwalk were transferred to Ventura.
1965
Northern California Youth Center (NCYC) opened near Stockton (San Joaquin County)
1966
O. H. Close School for Boys opened at NCYC.
1968
Allen Breed was named director.
Karl Holton School for Boys opened at NCYC.
An administrative reorganization plan was implemented, establishing North and South Divisions.
Facilities were constructed at Pine Grove and Ben Lomond Camps.
1969
The Youth Authority, along with the Department of Corrections, was placed within the Human Relations Agency (which became the Health and Welfare Agency).
1970
A change in the law meant fewer female commitments, so Ventura School for Girls became co-educational.
1971
DeWitt Nelson School opened at NCYC.
Los Guillicos became co-educational with boys from Fricot Ranch.
Fricot Ranch was closed due to declining ward population.
Oak Glen Camp opened in San Bernardino County.
1972
El Paso de Robles School closed due to declining commitments.
1974
El Paso de Robles School reopened, as commitments began to rise again.
1976
Pearl West was named director, the first woman to hold the position.
1979
Fenner Canyon Camp opened in Los Angeles County.
1980
The Youth Authority became part of the newly formed Youth and Adult Correctional Agency.
The Legislature removed the state's young offender paroling authority, the Youth Authority Board, from the CYA and renamed it the Youthful Offender Parole Board (YOPB). The director had also served as chairman of the board. Antonio C. Amador was selected to chair the "new" YOPB.
1981
Antonio C. Amador, former Los Angeles Police Protective League president was named director, the first Hispanic to hold the position.
1983
James Rowland, chief probation officer of Fresno County, was named director and introduced the concept of involving crime victims in youth correctional programs.
1984
"Impact of Crime on Victims" curriculum was implemented and was introduced in each institution and camp in the Youth Authority. This was a pioneering effort that has since been shared with other states and localities across the country.
The department adopted a policy of employment readiness as a major goal for wards and began reorganizing its Vocational Educational Program to make training more relevant with available jobs.
1985
Free Venture, a program involving public/private partnerships for ward employment, began. The CYA agreed to provide space to private sector businesses which meet certain criteria. In turn, the businesses hire and train wards who earn prevailing wages for real jobs. Wards who earn these jobs then become taxpayers. Also, percentages of their earnings go to victim restitution, room and board, a trust fund and a savings account. Trans World Airlines became the first Free Venture partner, instituting a project at Ventura School.
El Centro Training Center opened as a short-term Institutions and Camps (I&C) Branch facility in Imperial County.
1987
C. A. Terhune, a 30-year veteran of the CYA, was named director.
1989
El Centro Drug Program for Girls opened.
1990
Ventura School opened a camp program and instituted the department's first female fire fighting crew.
Oak Glen Camp was closed due to budget concerns.
Fenner Canyon Camp was transferred to CDC.
El Centro closed as an I&C facility and reopened as the Southern California Drug Treatment Center operated by the Parole Services Branch.
1991
B. T. Collins, a Vietnam war hero who lost an arm and a leg in that conflict, was appointed director in March and resigned in August, when he was asked to run for the State Assembly by the Governor.
William B. Kolender, former police chief of San Diego was appointed director.
N. A. Chaderjian School opened, a 600-bed institution at NCYC, increasing to four the number of training schools at that site. Chaderjian was secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency at the time of his untimely death in 1988.
Fred C. Nelles School celebrated its Centennial.
1992
The Youth Authority's first boot camp program (30 beds) opened at Preston School. It was named LEAD (Leadership, Esteem, Ability and Discipline) and served as a model for other juvenile boot camps in the country.
Preston School of Industry celebrated its Centennial.
1993
The second LEAD (Boot Camp) Program (30 beds) opened at Fred C. Nelles School.
The First Superintendent of Education position was created, and the department began a reorganization of the Education Program.
The Youth Authority Training Center opens at the NCYC complex.
1994
Karl Holton School was converted to the Karl Holton Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Center (DAATC), (now known as Karl Holton Youth Correctional Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility), devoted entirely to programming wards with substance use and abuse problems. The Youth Authority thus became the first youthful offender agency in the country to devote an entire major institution for that purpose.
1995
Craig L. Brown, undersecretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, was named director.
1996
Francisco J. Alarcon, chief deputy director, was appointed director.
1997
Youth Authority Institutions and Camps were changed to include "Youth Correctional"
1999
Gregorio S. Zermeno, Superintendent at the De Witt Nelson Correctional Facility, was appointed Director in March 1999.
2000
Jerry L. Harper, former undersheriff of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, was appointed Director in March 2000.
2003
Karl Holton Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Center in Stockton was closed September 2003. The facility was opened in 1968.
2003
Walter Allen III was appointed director by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mr. Allen was the Assistant Chief for the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.
2004
The Northern Youth Correctional Reception Center and Clinic in Sacramento was closed in February 2004. The clinic was opened in 1956
2004
In February 2004, the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility in Camarillo returned to a females-only facility. The only male wards are at the S. Carraway Fire and Public Safety Center .
2004
In June 2004, the CYA closed the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier . This was its oldest facility spanning more than 100 years. The last ward left the facility on May 27, 2004.
2004
In June 2004, the CYA closed its operation of Mt. Bullion Youth Conservation Camp in Mariposa County.
