From Andy Furillo

Inmate-rights lawyers and Sacramento County have agreed to settle a 2006 lawsuit that accused the Probation Department of running an overcrowded juvenile detention program that featured illegal use of excessive force and an inadequately-run educational program, officials said today.

In a consent decree expected to be filed today in Sacramento Superior Court, the county agreed to keep the population levels in its two primary juvenile detention facilities "at or below" the ability of its staff to handle.

The county also agreed to disband two emergency response squads that the plaintiffs linked to use of force complaints.

It will also install a video recording system in common areas of its main Youth Detention Facility and to design and put in place a new use-of-force policy.

"The consent decree provides a blueprint for a transformation from a punitive environment to one where the focus is on protecting the kids and rehabilitating them," said Donald Specter, the plaintiffs' attorney from the Prison Law Office in Berkeley. "It provides for experts to come in and develop new policies and programs and it also provides a lot of stringent focus on excessive force and tries to cut down on that."

The expected agreement calls on the county to minimize its use of pepper spray and chemical agents and to train its staff in "alternative intervention techniques" as a way to deal with troublesome wards.

It also will require the Probation Department to hire a "youth advocate" to handle grievances and investigate complaints against staff, employ a fulltime "trainer" and retain two outside experts to review its use of force policies and its mental health program.

Under the terms of the agreement, the county will provide its staff "weaponless defense training," eliminate verbal abuse of wards and reduce the time its confines youth in "extreme isolation." The lawsuit said some youths are confined to their cells all day, with no showers or recreation.

The consent decree also calls on the county to review its rehabilitation programs and make sure its toilet facilities in living areas are sanitary.

Probation Department spokeswoman Erin Treadwell said the county has already begun making the changes called for in the consent decree.

"We've been working on this for the last four years," Treadwell said.

Attorneys for the county agreed to a three-year duration on the consent decree and to allow plaintiffs to monitor the Youth Detention Facility where wards are held while awaiting trial as well as the Sacramento County Boys Ranch. The ranch is a the locked facility in eastern Sacramento County that serves as a last-chance local stop for youthful offenders before they are sent off to either the prison-like Division of Juvenile Justice or even state prison.

The population in the Youth Detention Facility, which once regularly exceed its 270-ward limit, has been reduced to a count today of 207, Treadwell said. The Boys Ranch, with a capacity of 125, held 94 wards as of today, according to Treadwell.

The document also was expected to provide for new oversight of the of the Warren E. Thornton Youth Center for younger incarcerated teens, but that facility has been closed down due to county budget cuts.

Under the terms of the 25-page document, the plaintiffs' lawyers "shall be compensated for their reasonable time and reasonable expenses relating to monitoring and enforcing this Consent Decree."

Attorneys' fees in the case so far have come to $700,000, to be paid for by a county that has struggled in recent years with multibillion dollar budget deficits and has laid off staff in the Probation Department and elsewhere.

The 2006 lawsuit named both the Probation Department and the county's Office of Education as defendants. The consent decree only applies to the Probation Department. Both Specter and Treadwell said the plaintiffs are still negotiating with the county education officials to resolve those portions of the lawsuit. (An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the decree also applied to the Education Office.)

An amended complaint charged that probation officers engaged in twisting wards' arms behind their backs and smashing youths face-first into the ground, a practice employed on a "frequent" basis that the suit called "dipping." The suit said the officers used the practice on wards for minor rules violations such as talking during movies or looking the wrong way at staff.

The complaint also charged that staff members were too quick to trigger pepper spray devices. The suit said wards "are sprayed with chemical agents for fighting, and also for offenses such as talking back to staff, often without warning."

Officers in the juvenile detention centers verbally harass youths as "an everyday occurrence," the suit said.

In papers filed in defense of the juvenile detention program, county lawyers said the actions of probation and educational officials "were based on a reasonable belief that the actions were lawful, proper and based on a good faith exercise of responsibility."

The county's lawyers argued that the "Sacramento County Juvenile Hall, the Warren E. Thornton Youth Center, and Carson Creek Boys Ranch have been found, by reviewing agencies, to be in compliance with the law."

As for school programs, the lawsuit said that youths are "regularly sent back to their housing units from school on 'overflow' status, when the classrooms are 'too full.' When this happens, the youth do not receive school."

It said the educational program in some facilities "often several days a week" consists of watching movies or doing crossword puzzles.