IONE, Calif. -- The new man in charge of California's most troubled youths visited one of his troubled facilities Friday, vowing to make sweeping changes in the wake of a scathing report and two suicides.

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The state's new head of youth and adult corrections, Roderick Hickman, walked into Ione's youth detention facility and publicly vowed to make sweeping changes to the embattled California Youth Authority.

"I am confident I can do that. That's what Gov. Schwarzenegger asked me to (do). That's what I raised my hand to do. And that's what I intend to get done," Hickman said.

On Tuesday, Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, publicly released five reports that were full of scathing criticism of the CYA. One of the biggest points of controversy is the solitary cage (pictured, below), which is called a "spa." It has been used for decades to lock up violent wards for teaching or disciplinary purposes.

"We can do away with some of these methods that are barbaric," Romero said.

Hickman viewed the cages firsthand Friday and announced he is eliminating their use from the entire youth authority.

"It's a done deal that we are removing the cages," Hickman said.

Also of concern in the reports are daily ward-on-ward and gang violence.

"Every day since I been here, I've heard of a fight that occurred during the day," said 18-year-old CYA ward Kevin Porter.

"The ward-on-ward violence highlighted in the report, we are working on that now and are going to go through tremendous lengths to address those problems," said new CYA director Walter Allen III.

Allen and Hickman both said that their vows to change a CYA culture of gangs and violence and to ensure staff safety are more than just rhetoric.

"It's not, do I think can we. It's, we have to. We have to make changes," Allen said.

Allen cautions that even though Hickman has decided to do away with the controversial cage teaching method, it will take time before teachers stop using them.