JUSTICE CENTER LAUNCHED $64 MILLION DETENTION, COURT, TREATMENT COMPLEX TO HOUSE TROUBLED KIDS.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer

Ventura County officials broke ground Friday on a $64 million juvenile justice center, a state-of-the-art complex that will replace aging facilities for detaining, treating and rehabilitating troubled youths.

The Steven Z. Perren Juvenile Justice Complex, named for a former Ventura County judge who now sits on the state Court of Appeals, will feature a 240-bed detention center and two treatment facilities with a total of 180 treatment beds.

``What we build here is for the future of the youth and the citizens of Ventura County,'' Supervisor Judy Mikels said during the afternoon ceremony. ``The idea of this facility is to get the youth out of the (criminal justice) system permanently.''

The complex, approved by the Board of Supervisors in 1998, started with a vision by Perren, a long-time juvenile court judge who saw the need to replace the Clifton Tatum Center, the run-down Juvenile Hall built 60 years ago.

``It's just a great feeling to know that we are actually doing this - turning the first dirt and to know that in two years it's going to be here,'' Perren said.

The two treatment facilities will replace the 45-bed Colston Youth Center. A boot camp currently housed in Santa Barbara and a vocational program stationed at the Camarillo Airport also will be centralized in the new complex.

There also will be courtrooms, classrooms, recreation facilities, a gymnasium, a vocational program, counseling services and administrative offices.

``This will allow us to have all juvenile facilities in one location,'' said Joan Splinter, division manager for the Juvenile Justice Complex Construction Project.

The 240,000-square-foot complex, being built on 45 acres in the El Rio area north of Oxnard, will be funded, in part, by a $40.5 million grant from the state Board of Corrections. The county is expected to pay the balance.

``This is truly a coming together of the community,'' said Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara. ``This is for the youth that have gone astray, but are not forgotten.''

The complex was named after Perren, a former prosecutor and civil attorney who has shown a steady commitment and dedication in his work to help motivate and rehabilitate wayward teens.

After being appointed to the Ventura Superior Court in 1982, Perren started local teen court and juvenile drug programs before beginning an effort to bring a local complex offering a full range of youth services under one roof.

``If we do not dedicate our lives to the rehabilitation of our children, we condemn that child to a life of crime,'' Perren said during the ceremony. ``We all have a responsibility to the system. I'm honored that this building will bear my name.''