Home » Santa Clarita News » Community News » Santa Clarita Residents Encouraged To Speak On Housing ‘Violent’ Juvenile Criminals In Camp Scott
By Tim Smith

Santa Clarita Residents Encouraged To Speak On Housing ‘Violent’ Juvenile Criminals In Camp Scott

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors made the controversial decision to relocate “violent” juvenile criminals from the Los Angeles area to Santa Clarita’s Camp Scott in March, and has scheduled an open public virtual session next week to discuss the camp’s renovation process.

In a subcommittee meeting Wednesday, Aug. 3, Santa Clarita residents have the opportunity to voice their concerns on the relocation of “violent” youth offenders to Camp Joseph Scott on Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus, a location that was originally intended to host nonviolent youth offenders near residential properties.

“The county is committed to doing a better job in justice reform, focused on our youth,” said Stephanie English, a representative for Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, during a Santa Clarita City Council meeting last summer. “We are also committed to the rights of victims and adhering to the public safety policy as needed. These goals are not mutually exclusive.”

On March 15, 2022, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Sheila Kuehl to direct County staff to develop a plan to designate Camp Scott and Campus Kilpatrick in Malibu to serve as permanent facilities for juvenile male serious offenders.

The motion was approved 4-1, with Supervisor Barger as the lone dissenting vote, according to officials. 

Despite Barger’s tireless efforts to prove that Santa Clarita’s Camp Scott is not the appropriate facility for the project, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to move forward in placing these young criminals – some who have been convicted of murder, attempted murder, rape, arson and robbery – near residential homes in Camp Scott. 

The Juvenile Justice Realignment Block Grant (JJCC-JJRBG) subcommittee meeting scheduled next week is expected to provide further details on renovating Camp Scott into a Secure Youth Treatment Facility (SYTF), according to City of Santa Clarita officials. 

“For those who have concerns about Camp Scott on Bouquet Canyon Road becoming a permanent home for juvenile serious offenders, the County of Los Angeles’ JJRBG Subcommittee will hold a meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 3 from 3 – 4:30 p.m.,” read a statement from the City of Santa Clarita. “On the agenda is an update on the site location to permanently house juvenile male serious offenders.”

The subcommittee meeting comes after a full year of controversy between the City of Santa Clarita and Los Angeles County, with dozens of community protests happening in and around the Santa Clarita Valley. 

During the first in-person city council meeting since the onset of the pandemic last year, over 100 residents and previous offenders took to Santa Clarita City Hall to express their thoughts, with almost half in support and half in opposition. 

The community response was prompted by the Los Angeles County Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Subcommittee’s decision to recommend placing violent offenders in Santa Clarita long-term, without disclosing any notice to the City of Santa Clarita. 

The City first heard about the project through the NextDoor app, according to current Mayor Pro-Tem Jason Gibbs.

“The lack of outreach, input and thought to the residents of Saugus and all of Santa Clarita when it comes to housing juveniles who commit serious crimes is extremely disappointing,” Gibbs said upon hearing about the proposal. “Modifying a facility to house criminals that have been convicted of rape, arson and even murder, so close to residential homes is not only inappropriate, but a disservice to the safety and family-first environment people have come to enjoy and expect from Santa Clarita.”

The offenders being relocated to Saugus are between the ages of 12 and 25 years old, most of which have committed serious crimes including rape, murder, arson and robbery, according to the City of Santa Clarita.

“Many of our peers come from underrepresented communities and a lot of our actions were as a result of our traumatic events that we had encountered in our homes and communities,” said Eden Madrid, a youth advocate with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) during a council meeting last year. “We cannot just discard our youth as a result of our traumatic events. We cannot deem monsters without giving them the benefit of the doubt.”

The JJRBG subcommittee meeting, which is expected to reveal more information about renovations at Camp Scott, is scheduled via Zoom on Wednesday, August 3 from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

It is anticipated that this will include a presentation on Camp Scott in Santa Clarita,” read a statement from the City of Santa Clarita

To provide written or live public comment please send an email to JJCC-Admin@probation.lacounty.gov with your name and reference Agenda Item IV-A. To provide live public comment without being logged into the meeting, provide a phone number for the administration.

To view the agenda, click here. To log into the meeting, click here. The access code is 2551 006 6012 and the password is JJCC (5522 from phones).


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Santa Clarita Residents Encouraged To Speak On Housing ‘Violent’ Juvenile Criminals In Camp Scott

5 comments

  1. Bouquet Canyon resident should buy guns and learn how to use them, before the Donkey Pox folks try to disarm US.
    In Castaic, we have a jail campus among residential areas that support law and order. There are sirens they can sound, and the first time I heard it I immediately knew what it was (because we do not have a nuclear reactor). Escapees invariably head for the freeway & Old Road, where gas stations have pay phones, and they look for more stylish clothes.

  2. AwesomeTown no more

  3. It’s bad enough to have these dangerous “juveniles” who behave like adults there, but then they’ll have their “mentor”parent(s) & “home boys” visiting, driving through once safe neighborhoods & hanging out to scope out & plan/cause more crime/violence!

  4. Please please please stop referring to these as juveniles these are adults they are ages 18 to 24 they committed heniest crimes as juveniles and were sent to the state to do their time at the California youth authority. The youth Authority closed and they were sent back to their original county of where they committed their crime these are not juveniles these are adults please get your facts straight. Once again people these are not juveniles they are adults! whoever wrote the story needs to get there facts straight. The probation department does not have the tools necessary to deal with these criminals. This is a disaster in the making. Whoever wrote this article needs to get their facts straight and realize again to stop calling them juveniles. Ladies and gentlemen these are adults coming to a probation camp that would generally house very low level juveniles. Adults are coming to these camps not juveniles. I hope I made my point.

    • you are correct FAT GUY. These criminals coming to the probation camps are not considered low level. These criminals have committed murders, rape, car jacking. Most of them are gang involved and are very sophisticated. This social experiment will not work and probation staff are not equipped to handle these criminals. There will be riots, and they will eventually over run the staff and the facility endangering the community around the camp.

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About Rachel Matta

Born and raised in Santa Clarita, Rachel Matta has always had a love for writing and media. The first time she ever smiled was actually while she was laying next to her mom as she flipped through the pages of a magazine. Upon graduating from high school in 2019, she chose to major in both journalism and political science at College of the Canyons with the intention of concentrating in news reporting. She began her journey at KHTS as a news intern in the summer of 2020 and officially joined the newsroom in the spring of 2021, intending to move forward with compassion and inquisition.