Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 1851

In order to provide appropriate facilities for the rehabilitative treatment of young offenders who otherwise may be committed to the Department of the Youth Authority or the Department of Corrections, and in order to provide this treatment in the community where family and personal relationships can be strengthened rather than severed, and in order to provide a range of alternative dispositions to the courts before whom young offenders appear, and in order to provide opportunities for private citizens to contribute actively to the rehabilitation of offenders in their own neighborhood, youth correctional centers may be established by ordinance by boards of supervisors of any county, as provided in this article.