System Failure: Violence, Abuse and Neglect in the California Youth Authority, produced by WITNESS and Books Not Bars, offers testimony of the human rights violations including sexual abuse, beatings, forced medication, and systemic mental health and educational neglect of juveniles taking place at the California Youth Authority (CYA), one of the largest youth correctional agencies in the country. Many youth languish in isolation cells, with little human contact and almost no education.

The costs to the people of California both financially and in terms of public safety are enormous: $80,000 per year, per youth. Despite this huge price tag, more than 90% of CYA youths who leave the system are re-arrested within three years. This film examines the urgent need for change in the California Youth Authority and advocates for closing CYA's nine facilities to replace them with community-based alternatives and small rehabilitation centers that give youth a chance to succeed on the outside.

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