The Office of Youth and Community Restoration (OYCR)’s mission of providing comprehensive services for young people involved in the youth justice system relies on collaboration across various agencies. We talked to Madera County Assistant Chief Probation Officer Jose Pantoja about the vital partnership between OYCR and Madera County, the positive impact of the services provided by OYCR, and his vision for the future of youth justice in Madera County. At the time of the interview in December 2024, Pantoja was serving as Deputy Chief Probation Officer; he has since been promoted. 

Tell us a little bit about your role in Madera County. 

I’ve been with the Madera County Probation Department for 26 years—my last five years have been in juvenile institutions. And, as you know, the dynamic in the juvenile institution setting has significantly changed…the last couple years. One of the reasons is due to the closure of the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), which then led to initiatives, such as Senate Bill 823, which placed the responsibility of youth that would have gone to DJJ at local facilities. Madera is a county where we house our own who would have gone to DJJ. We currently have five secure track youth, and we also are a county that accepts other secure track youth if there is a need.  

When I started at the Madera County Juvenile Detention Facility, the pandemic also hit, so a lot of things were shut down. We have a lot of great, innovative staff that quickly had to pivot… A lot of people and industries had…[the] ability to work from home, but staff in juvenile institutions throughout California did not have that option. Our staff came up with great ideas, programming and art, things they could do creatively to create certain growth environments for our youth in our facility.  

How did the collaboration between your department and OYCR begin? 

It primarily began because of the closure of DJJ, but we’ve worked very well with our OYCR reps that are assigned to our region… It was as soon as we received the email: “Hey, this person is your rep”… We connected right away; we shared with our OYCR rep our next Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council meeting, and the collaboration started. We are fully transparent, and we’ve invited OYCR early on to all of our youth graduations—from high school or programs. It’s important for us to always highlight the success stories and all the positive things our youth are accomplishing. 

We [had] a youth, Manuel Hernandez, who just turned 19. And we were interviewing him to assist him in preparation since he was going to go speak at a conference… We came up with questions, and [OYCR] participated in helping us prepare our youth. OYCR has also been here a couple of times at our facility. 

What specific initiatives or programs have you worked on with OYCR to support youth involved in the justice system? 

We’re a county that applied for the [less restrictive placement] grant with OYCR…to help our youth transition back into the community, going into either an LRP setting or step-downs. We were one of the counties granted that award. It’s been very beneficial for us to be able to provide additional services and items for our youth that we normally wouldn’t have approved county general funds to do.  

For example, Manuel Hernandez had an interest in [learning] how to drive… At a county level, we can’t say, “Oh, here, go use a county car for this,” because of the liability and insurance. So, we were able to hire a local driving company…to come pick up our youth at the facility and loan their vehicle with their insurance to take our youth to the driving test. He now has a California driver’s license, and this is because of the collaboration with OYCR and the LRP grant funds to assist youth transitioning back into the community.  

What positive changes have you observed in the youth(s) you’ve worked with through these collaborative efforts? 

Manuel Hernandez [had] been here three years, and we really [saw] him grow and develop into a positive young man, but just the things that he’s been able to accomplish… All of our secure track youth are enrolled in college—it’s something that we really try to pursue. We can’t force anybody to go to school, but we highly encourage it… We hope one of them gets to attend Fresno State [in person] next year.  

Are there any upcoming programs or initiatives that you’re particularly excited about? 

Starting in March 2025, we’re going to have two staff [from the California Justice Leaders Initiative under AmeriCorps] assigned here in our facility…to give direct programming and assistance to our youth. That’s something huge for us, having a community-based organization, prior justice-involved individuals…working directly with our youth day-to-day… [It will be] very tailored to the youth’s needs, providing additional programming services that they may need, and then also linking them to services before they are released from custody into the community. One goal is to eliminate as many barriers [to access] as possible and continue providing needed services.  

We’re also contracted with our local workforce development corporation. They’re the ones who assisted us in finding employment for Manuel Hernandez. They teach two different types of classes in custody and out of custody—we call it “the younger group” and “the older group.” The younger curriculum is a consistent seven-day curriculum, basically job readiness skills. Then there’s a 10-week curriculum; they [learn about] job readiness, resumes, bank accounts…the value of money and the responsibility of it. The final outcome is obviously for them to find a job… There are a lot of benefits for employers to help the justice-involved population and just give them a chance [as well]. I think they saw that in Manuel. They were very impressed and hired him. He is now working full time.   

How can other counties work toward achieving the same positive outcomes? 

That has to come with an open mind… We need to continue growing and evolving with the times. It’s a different population that we’re working with now, which comes with greater staff responsibility and needed funds. In the past, juvenile detention facilities did not have long-term commitments. You didn’t have youth that were in local juvenile detention facilities for three years, five years, eight years… [and] at some point they’re going to be released. It’s the hardest job, but the most rewarding, that youth correctional officers are tasked with changing behavior, their mindset, making them do positive things, and keeping them on a positive path. With a trauma-informed care approach, I would say definitely have an open mind, which may come with risks. We have taken all of our secure track youth to Yosemite…on trails…out to the snow… Our officers are trained to take the necessary precautionary measures to try to keep our youth, the community, and staff safe. 

Is there anything else you would like to share? 

I think it’s important that, with this population, we really treat them with compassion and respect, balanced with accountability. That’s been the culture we try to create in our facility from day one. You know, some youth come in with a lot of different needs. We go above and beyond. We provide behavior-based incentives, develop individualized case plans, and set goals. Some of them may have acted a certain way out in the community that’s not appropriate. Our staff and overall team—from medical providers and clinicians to educators—are committed to teaching them the positive skills they need to be successful.