Barry J Nidorf Juvenile Hall

i’ll be darned, a Unilocal page for juvy. i was detained at Sylmar juvy in Feburary-​March 1966. It had just opened in 1965, so it was brand spanking new. The previous year, ’65, i was in Central and i was also in Central late 1964. So, when i got taken to Sylmar, i must say, there were things to appreciate, some positives, being newer with a more spacious layout. It was/​is a detention facility. I was in there for a month and a half so i got a good strong taste of it that i will never forget, a lot of it is with me daily, not far from the surface of my mind.
Overall, i was treated ok there. The staff was what you would expect. There was a really good judge there named Julius Lebow, he later went to dependency court and became an influential elder statesman. He cared about kids and wasn’t rigid.
I’m giving it three stars because: i took stars off because once, 4 girls came in to my room, a serious rule violation to go into another girl’s room, and they jumped on me, i don’t even know why, i didn’t have any problem with anybody, and they put pillows over my face and tickled me, i didn’t laugh, it wasn’t funny, it was really traumatic, and i was like, where is the staff? They’re always there when you don’t want them in your business, but 4 girls come in my room and overpower me and put pillows over my face, and i am yelling, «Miss! Miss,» because «miss» is what we called the female staff,” but my voice was blocked with the pillows, and i got hysterical, i was beyond crying, it wasn’t the girls so much, it was that the staff weren’t around when i needed them, only when i didn’t, i was so upset, my diaphragm was spasming after it was finally over, i couldn’t stop gasping. A nice DPO that i didn’t know took me outside and sat on the grass with me and talked to me in a soft voice and asked me what i was interested in, and if i liked to read, and i said i did, and she asked what, and i said i would like to read something by F Scott Fitzgerald, and she told me she had a book at home that she would bring me, it was the Great Gatsby and i read it while i was in there, very depressing book but it was good.
So i give them credit for having a DPO around who would take some time with me. Another thing i give them one or two stars for is that i was allowed to have my guitar in there, that was unexpected but my former foster mother told me to ask if i could have it and they said yes, so she brought it and i was able to have it in my room some of the time, most of the time it stayed in the office. One thing i remember is, one day we had to all be in our rooms but we were allowed to have the doors open, and we would all sit in the door ways so we could see each other and talk to each other. so one time, i got my guitar and sat in my door way and sang the whole song of Bob Dylan’s Chimes of Freedom to the other girls while they sat in their door ways. It’s a 7 minute long song with lots of verses, i sang it from the heart. One verse says
Tolling for the searching ones
on their speechless seeking trail
For the lonesome hearted lovers
with too personal a tale
AND FOR EACH UNHARMFUL GENTLE SOUL
MISS-​PLACED INSIDE A JAIL
we gazed upon the chimes of Freedom flashing
i’m grateful that i had my guitar and had the opportunity to do that, not many people get the chance to do something like that. Thank you Sylmar.
One thing i didn’t like was, the staff controlled how much water you could have when you took a shower, and they didn’t always give enough time. There were no doors in front of the showers so they could see you, and they would know if you still had soap on you or not. One time, she turned off the water while i still had a lot of shampoo in my hair. I refused to get out but she insisted that i had to. i said no way. She said i had no choice. But i did, because female staff wasn’t allowed to lay hands on us, if there was some problem requiring physical intervention, they had to call male staff from the boys side. I just stood there in my shower stall with shampoo on my head refusing to leave, and she couldn’t move me. Then i yelled at her, «GET THE MEN!!» which is what we would yell of some girls were having a big violent fight in the cafeteria. Of course, she couldn’t get the men. For one thing, i was a stark naked girl. And also, the men had their hands full on the boys side, they were busy, they wouldn’t like to be called over to get a girl out of a shower. So, she realized she was defeated and turned the water back on and i got the shampoo out. I got some kind of punishment but it wasn’t memorable. i just remember winning that one. But kids shouldn’t have to go through that to take a shower, I don’t know if they still do that. Probably. That staff’s name was Miss Wicks. All these years and i remember it. That incident and the time those 4 girls came in my room and traumatized me, causes me to take two stars off
about the photo, Unilocal cut off the sides but if you double click on it, the whole thing opens

This is a juvenile detention facility. How «Elite 13» can give it a great rating is beyond me. Apparently he hasn’t spent the night in juvenile hall. But then again, he’s a young lawyer and most likely hasn’t been exposed to the darker side of detention facilities. The lawyers and judges may be great, but they don’t live there. So, a big shout out for all those kids surviving juvenile hall.

Great staff, friendly judges and a special shout out to all the hard working Public Defenders who graciously took me under their wing (as a law school student… unfortunately, I’m not young enough to be a client.)
4 hour free parking on the street? Well, I guess if you’re young ward is in trouble with the County, the least they can do is provide you with free parking, which is much more than can be said about the other Juvenile facilities in the County.