Retired YTS corrections officer David Sanchez Jr. displays a bladed device used to cut suicide victims free from a noose. Photo by David Reeve in 2022 at YTS in Chino, California.
Retired YTS corrections officer David Sanchez Jr. displays a bladed device used to cut suicide victims free from a noose. Photo by David Reeve in 2022 at YTS in Chino, California.

Gladiator School: Stories from Inside YTS (Ep 11)

“The last watch”

“The last watch”

David Sanchez returned to YTS for this interview in 2022. He was photographed at the main entrance to the facility by David Reeve.
The main checkpoint gate at YTS
A unit of cells at YTS photographed in 2017 by David Reeve
As the facility prepared to close, Superintendent Elverta M. Mock published this message in a booklet honoring members tasked with closing the facility in 2010.
Correction officers would keep a record book of events during their shift. Above, the record book from the Northwest Tower documents when the last ward left YTS in 2010. It reads, “08:35 Last ward has left the building, no wards are at YTS,” noting 3 in a separate psychiatric unit run by an outside organization.

Want to read more? “Gladiator School: Stories from Inside YTS” is a series on Vantage:

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DAVID WILLIAM REEVE is a writer + photographer from Southern California who documents the lives of young people at risk. Contact: davidwilliamreeve (at) gmail

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David William Reeve

DAVID WILLIAM REEVE is a writer + photographer from Southern California who documents the lives of young people at risk. Contact: davidwilliamreeve (at) gmail