Font ResizeWhat happened? That's a question Dyron's family and friends are still trying to figure out, a year after his death.
Youth advocates say Dyron's death — the second in N.A. Chaderjian, known as "Chad," last year and the fourth in the entire system — symbolizes the failure of California's youth prisons to care for and rehabilitate its
3,600 youth inmates.
San Joaquin County's autopsy report says he died of natural causes due to "cardiac arrythmia" and "cardiac anomaly of undetermined type."
His mother, Connie Brewer, said he never had health problems. The lieutenant who oversaw the facility stated in the autopsy report that Dyron "did not have any medical history of seizures, allergies or other medical problems."
Dyron was convicted on a robbery charge in 1995 at 15. He spent seven years in what was then known as the California Youth Authority, or CYA, bouncing from one jail to another. In 2002, he was paroled and moved to Washington state to live with his uncle to get a new start on life.
In 2004, he was arrested in Washington on a parole violation. A few weeks later, he was sent straight to Chad, his first time in the institution.
"I'm still trying to find out the reason why Dyron was back in there," said Connie Brewer.
When Dyron entered Chad on Aug. 3, 2004, counselors placed him in the 11th grade. He was 24 and had spent all of his high school years in jail.
On the night he died, at approximately 2:15 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2004, CYA counselor Chris Johnson made mandatory half-hour checks by knocking on each cell door, according to the official autopsy report.
Johnson made another check at 2:45 a.m. and noticed Dyron lying in the same position. Johnson skipped the 3:15 a.m. check, the report stated. At 3:50 a.m. he came by Dyron's room again.
He noticed that Dyron had not moved and was still lying face down. He knocked hard on the window of the door and woke up Dyron's bunkmate and motioned for him to wake Dyron up.
In the next 45 minutes, various people rushed to cell 16 in-cluding security guards, the lieutenant on-call, a nurse and a doctor. Dyron was pronounced dead at 3:58 a.m.
Connie heard about her son's death that afternoon. She never had the chance to see Dyron after he returned to California.
Twanisha, 23, is one of Dyron's sisters. She, along with her mother, grandmother, cousin, and stepmother drove to Stockton that afternoon. Twanisha said she was shocked that her family did not have access to Dyron's body and were only shown two Polaroids taken early that morning — which they were not even allowed to hold.
"When we got there, they told us we could not see the body," said Twanisha in tears. "He was the state's property."
What they found even more shocking was the photos showed Dyron with a black eye.
When the family received Dyron's body — after a San Joaquin County autopsy — they hired a private forensics specialist in San Rafael for
$3,500 to find out more information.
The private report concluded there was a "contusion of the right upper eyelid and supraorbital area of the face" — a black eye. But the official coroner's report made no mention of any injury.
"When you read this whole story, it's negligence all the way through," said Twanisha about the coroner's report. "It just doesn't make any sense."
Berkeley-based attorney James Chanin helped Connie file a claim to the state's Victim Compensation and Government Claim Board in February 2005.
A month later, the board rejected the claim, stating the case "raises complex issues of fact and law that should be resolved through formal legal action."
Working with Books Not Bars, an Oakland-based civil rights organization, Connie and Twanisha began speaking out about their pain and against conditions in the youth prisons.
"It's clear that if there had been adequate rehabilitation and support the first time around, he would not have been back," said Lenore Anderson, director of Books Not Bars.
Books Not Bars has been advocating for the shuttering of Chad, notorious for being the state's most decrepit youth jail. Reports show mistreatment of youth and lack of education and health care. Most recently, Chad lost its high school accreditation, and superintendent Steve Kruse was fired for using excessive force against a ward.
Today, all Connie wants is closure.
To this day, no one from the CYA has sat down with her to even try to explain Dyron's death. CYA spokesperson Lungren said the official word is what the coroner's report states: Dyron died of natural causes due to some unknown heart failure. The investigation is closed.
"I just want to find out what happened to him," said Connie. "Somebody in the institution knows. One day, someone will come forward."
On Sept. 5, Books Not Bars along with Dyron's family members will mark the one-year anniversary of Dyron's death with a "No More Lost Lives: Close Chad Now" memorial and mass march at noon at 2814 Transworld Drive in Stockton. Visit http://www.booksnotbars.org for more information.
Momo Chang can be contacted at mchang@angnewspapers.com.
