An exclusive look inside Camp Kilpatrick, a county juvenile detention facility off Encinal Canyon Road.
By David Wallace/Special to The Malibu Times
Last week there were 20 murders in South Los Angeles in only seven days, bringing the number of shooting deaths in the city to nearly 600 so far this year. Many, it is suspected, were gang related.
Gruesome statistics like these cannot fail to bring into high relief the rehabilitation efforts at Camp Vernon Kilpatrick, a Los Angeles County juvenile detention facility off Encinal Canyon Road, above Malibu. Our national correspondent, David Wallace, was recently accorded unusual access to the camp, its administration and many of its inmates. His two-part report, beginning with this issue, will conclude next week.
Recalling the recent mayhem in South Los Angeles, I thought to myself, somewhat nervously, as I entered the gates of Camp Vernon Kilpatrick near Malibu last week: “Well, at least none of the inmates are in here for murder.”
I had been well briefed. The 100-plus “kids” (as they are called by everyone who has contact with them) serving sentences of four months to a year behind Kilpatrick’s razor wire-topped fences, are locked up for lesser offenses like burglary, dealing, or graffiti. (Those convicted of more serious crimes are imprisoned under the jurisdiction of the California Youth Authority.) Nevertheless, there is no question that many inmates there have been-and probably still are-members of the notorious Bloods, Crips and 18th Street gangs.
Yet, for two evenings in October, sold-out audiences at the Malibu Stage Company cheered themselves hoarse as 14 of Kilpatrick’s inmates presented two evenings of comedy improv, song and poetry.
What’s happening?
The explanation involves a truly innovative rehabilitation program at the camp that provides inmates with cultural and lifestyle enrichment including acting classes, poetry and creative writing mentoring, life skills and academic tutoring by local university students. (The L.A. County Office of Education provides inmates year-round schooling as part of the camp routine.) And volunteers, many from Malibu, do it all.
Begun about a decade ago, the program remained virtually unique to Kilpatrick for years. Now, however, pilot programs have been initiated among some of the other 18 county juvenile detention camps, among them, nearby Camp David Gonzales that recently formed an association with the prestigious Crossroads School in Santa Monica.
Kilpatrick probation officer Tom Barr, 61, credits the program to enlightened thinking by the county probation department, however, there is little question that he got the ball rolling in the first place.
“I love Greece,” Barr says, “and, some 15 years ago, decided to teach Greek dancing to the kids, and take them out to festivals and restaurants. Nine years ago, volunteers started offering to mentor other programs to help the boys, and it all sort of evolved.”
Much of the program is writing-oriented, and that especially pleases Barr.
“It’s all autobiographical,” he says. “These kids are putting on paper their thoughts and impressions, and that is really valuable.”
Most classes meet weekly, for two or three months, although some (like tutoring) take place more frequently.
Mentoring the boys as they reach for new ideas, perspectives and means of expression has been enlightening for the volunteers as well. Ask Malibuite Sandra Heyward, who, with her late husband, Deke, started mentoring poetry writing six years ago, and was partly responsible for developing the talent of three inmates-Peter, Mario and Timmy-who presented their work at the Malibu Stage performances. (By court order, to protect their futures, neither the inmates’ last names nor pictures may be used, nor is any information about their crime ever supplied.)
Heyward says: “The experience has given me much more than I could ever give them. And I’ve discovered that most of the boys I’ve worked with are probably way above average intelligence as well, and that has been a revelation. But the fact that it has made me feel good is secondary in comparison to the changes I’ve seen in the boys.” (Examples of their poetry accompany both this story and its continuation next week.)
Clearly such programs cannot work miracles, and a certain percentage of the boys will revert to their previous criminal habits following release. As one volunteer observed, “It’s very hard for these boys to not take up their previous ways when they return to a gang environment or go home and their mother throws an empty liquor bottle at them.”
Barr, a 36-year veteran of the probation department, and the man responsible for matching boys with appropriate programs, accepts this fact. Nevertheless, he is justifiably proud of such successes as that of Jeremy who is soon off to the University of North Carolina. Many have gotten scholarships for further education as well.
On the completion of his nine-month sentence in a few weeks, Timmy, 18, (who will graduate from high school in the camp) will also be continuing his education at a local college. A football star from the age of seven, when he played in a San Gabriel Valley Pop Warner League, he plans to major in communications or sociology.
“The place opened my eyes about other kids and how they live,” Timmy said during an interview before his poetry readings at the Malibu Stage. “But participating in programs has also opened my eyes to a lot of stuff I was missing out on-hidden talents like poetry and writing I didn’t know I had. Now I’m trying to stay focused and keep my act together.”
Next week, our feature on Camp Kilpatrick continues with the description of a day in the life of an inmate, and an emotionally intense poetry session that brought tears to the eyes of hardened gang members.