Freedom 4 Youth, a nonprofit that advocates for incarcerated youth, discussed restorative justice and the Santa Barbara County youth incarceration system in a panel on Nov. 13. The panel went into depth about the organization’s central mission, local policies that concern incarcerated youth and the experiences of two formerly incarcerated individuals who worked with Freedom 4 Youth.
Iris Guo / Daily Nexus
Located in Santa Barbara, Freedom 4 Youth connects with incarcerated and at-risk youth in Santa Barbara County (SBC) and advocates for their criminal cases, providing resources such as mental health support, tutoring and career counseling. Many of Freedom 4 Youth’s volunteer advocates are UCSB students.
The panel, which was moderated by associate professor of religious studies Joseph Blankholm, went from 5-6:30 p.m. at the McCune Conference Room in the Humanities & Social Sciences Building. The organization’s strategy is to pursue “relentless outreach,” specifically to the youth, Freedom 4 Youth Co-Founder and Executive Director Billi Jo Starr said. The organization was active in advocating for the 2018 California Senate Bill 1391, which raised the minimum age for being tried in court as an adult to 16.
Panelist Giovanni Olivo, who was incarcerated in the Santa Maria Juvenile Hall from 13 -18 years old, credits Freedom 4 Youth and their work on Bill 1391 for his release. Olivio’s initial sentencing tried him as an adult, which would have had him detained well into adulthood.
“A lot of the laws that they helped pass are the reason why I’m here today. I should have been still in there up until 2030,” Olivo said.
For a part of his sentencing, Olivo was detained at the Los Prietos Boys Camp in Santa Barbara, an alternative youth detention center focused on rehabilitation. Olivo said the camp motivated him to do better by avoiding behaviors that would increase his sentencing.
“Camp was a step-down program. So for me, camp was kind of like, okay, now I do have something to look forward to, and I want to do good. I was relieved to be able to touch a tree. I always say that because it was just mind-blowing to me at the time because I hadn’t been outside in the woods for over three years and six months,” Olivio said. “So when I went in there, I felt a sense of relief. I’m so close to being free, but I’m not quite there.”
Billi Jo Star presenting along with other Freedom 4 Youth members. Iris Guo / Daily Nexus
Los Prietos Boys Camp was permanently closed in 2022 due to the declining population of the juvenile incarceration system. This decision faced backlash from Freedom 4 Youth, as the Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall was closed in July 2021, which forced all incarcerated youth to move to Santa Maria Juvenile Hall, a maximum security juvenile facility.
“Every time I hear [Olivo] and Bryan talk about the differences between camp and the hall, it just tears my heart apart, because closing the boy’s camp was detrimental to our kids and our children in this community. The fact that the only option that they have now is to be in a cage in Santa Maria, in a maximum-security prison, is sickening,” Starr said.
Starr also criticized SBC’s public safety budget, which has allocated over $200 million dollars to law enforcement and incarceration departments. She proposed redirecting those funds to preventative public safety resources.
“We’re offering that if you actually invested in the root causes of survival behavior, right, which is mental health and alcohol and drug services, housing, food security, right, all the different health and human services. If we flip that and invest 68% into those departments … What would our community look like?” Starr said.
Bryan Palacios, who spent two periods of incarceration between ages 13-17 at the Santa Maria Juvenile Hall, said Freedom 4 Youth helped him through his time in the system.
“As soon as I was released, they came straight to me and helped me with everything,” Palacios said. “They got me my first job. Sadly, I went back in, and for some reason, the juvenile hall wouldn’t let me contact Freedom 4 Youth. So [Freedom 4 Youth] sent me books and little notes saying, ‘Keep your head up’ and ‘We’ll get to you soon.’ That, of course, motivated me to think, ‘Okay, someone’s looking out for me.’”
Director of Youth Programs at Freedom 4 Youth Leandra Harris said that the facility closures show that Santa Barbara has a dismissive attitude toward at-risk youth.
“Santa Barbara usually has an out-of-sight, out-of-mind way that they like to deal with issues because of money, funding and tourism and things like that — stuff they don’t want to be associated with,” Harris said.
Harris said that community involvement is the right route to empower youth, which she feels SBC’s board of directors will not do.
“So the power of the community is usually what helps push things through and building communities so that the youth feel empowered,” Harris said. “Because when the youth feel empowered, things change.”
