Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe wants to end use of pepper spray in juvenile halls

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe is asking her colleagues to support a proposal that could phase out the use of pepper spray in local juvenile detention facilities.

She also wants to create a board subcommittee “for the purpose of analyzing, planning, and proactively addressing concerns, recommendations and opportunities for improvement in youth detention facilities.”

Pepper spray — commonly called “OC” after its main ingredient, oleoresin capsicum, a chili pepper extract — is already banned in juvenile detention facilities in most states and several California counties, due to its harmful physical effects and disproportionate use on youth with developmental disabilities and mental health challenges.

Montgomery Steppe wrote in a letter to the board that she was acting in response to an investigation launched earlier this year by Attorney General Rob Bonta into allegations of civil rights abuses in San Diego County juvenile detention facilities.

Bonta didn’t say what prompted his office’s investigation, Montgomery Steppe noted, but “recent reporting by several oversight organizations highlight concerns with excessive use of force in youth detention facilities, including the use of Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) spray, and the failure of Probation officers to utilize de-escalation techniques.”

Her letter says that since 2017, the Probation Department has contracted with the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators (CJJA) for training and technical help — including the review of reports and videos related to violent incidents, use of force and the use of room confinement — yet the board “is rarely apprised of complaints filed against Probation or of CJJA’s findings.”

The letter asks supervisors to support the creation of a subcommittee “for the purpose of analyzing, planning, and proactively addressing concerns, recommendations, and opportunities for improvement in youth detention facilities.”

The subcommittee, which would include Montgomery Steppe and Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, would review reports the CJJA provides to the Probation Department.

Montgomery Steppe also wants the county’s Chief Probation Officer Tamika Nelson to provide the board, within 60 days, a plan to phase out the use of OC spray and promote de-escalation techniques.

It’s the first time a member of the Board of Supervisors has demanded better oversight of the county’s juvenile detention facilities, despite a history of complaints largely tied to the use of pepper spray.

In 2014, Youth Law Center and a coalition of civil rights organizations filed a 34-page complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, arguing that probation officers routinely used pepper spray to quell violence instead of trying less aggressive tactics.

Staff used pepper spray to subdue youths who were suicidal, medically vulnerable and as young as 12, the groups said, asking for a federal investigation into the practices.

“We are particularly concerned that the youth subjected to what we consider inhumane and abusive practices are disproportionately youth of color, in particular Latino and African American youth,” the complaint said.

Youth Law Center attorney Meredith Desautels described Montgomery Steppe’s proposal as “a critical step in the right direction” and urged the board to approve it.

“More than a decade ago, our organization worked together with community leaders to shine a light on the horrific treatment of young people in San Diego’s juvenile facilities,” she said. “Yet children continue to suffer in facilities that are supposed to offer care and treatment.”

While the Justice Department did not open an investigation into the 2014 allegations, the county’s Juvenile Justice Commission — a court-appointed citizens’ panel that conducts annual inspections of San Diego County’s juvenile detention facilities — started tracking the use of pepper spray more closely.

“Continue to decrease use of OC Spray,” commissioners wrote after their 2015 inspection of the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility. “It is recognized that a high risk, mentally ill population is housed at East Mesa. De-escalation training needs to be emphasized in addition to continued reduction in use of OC Spray.”

In a 2019 report on East Mesa, commissioners expressed frustration that their recommendations weren’t being implemented.

“The Juvenile Justice Commission strongly encourages and recommends the Probation Department review, evaluate, and implement changes to OC use and deescalation [sic] tactic practices to ensure the safety of youth and staff,” they wrote. “The Commission has made this recommendation every year for at least the last five years, and this is still an issue.”

And in 2023, “the number of OC incidents should be decreasing, not remaining steady,” commissioners wrote.

The same report said parents had reached out to commissioners to complain about “abuse by the guards” at East Mesa.

A former teacher at East Mesa named Libi Uremovic told The San Diego Union-Tribune in May that she had submitted a complaint to Bonta’s office in 2024 after hearing from multiple students — some with visible injuries — about altercations with probation officers. Uremovic shared several accounts, handwritten by students, describing excessive use of force.

“I really thought I was going to die,” wrote one student who described being kicked, punched and slammed to the ground.

A Probation Department spokesperson told the Union-Tribune that all allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and probation officials were aware of Uremovic’s complaints.

“The department thoroughly investigated allegations made by Ms. Uremovic and none were substantiated,” he said via email.