In response to a court ordered plan submitted last week to reduce the number of youth detainees at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors instructed the chief probation officer Tuesday to review other options for depopulating the troubled facility.
Supervisors cited an April 24 meeting of the county’s Probation Oversight Commission that yielded a broader set of recommendations intended to safely reduce the Downey juvenile hall’s population, compared with the strategy submitted Friday by Chief Probation Officer Guillermo Viera Rosa to move youth to other facilities.
Earlier in April, LA Superior Court Judge Michael Espinoza directed the Probation Department to submit a plan to depopulate Los Padrinos. The facility has been operating for several months despite a shutdown order by state regulators, who deemed it unsuitable to house youth.
“The Probation Department has made it clear that moving youth to other facilities is the primary strategy they plan to deploy to comply with the Judge’s order,” according to a statement from Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office. “However, there is an opportunity to do more.”
The commission’s April 24 recommendations included considering some youth for release and expediting the transfer to other facilities of detainees who have already been sentenced. A motion Tuesday by Hahn and Supervisor Lindsey Horvath called on the department to consider these and additional recommendations.
While the Probation Department plan would reduce the facility’s population from 278 to 175, Hahn wants the number reduced to 100.
“The Probation Department is going to need to move youth from Los Padrinos to other Probation facilities, but that shouldn’t be the only strategy we rely on,” Hahn said in a statement. “Our Probation Oversight Commission has put forward thoughtful recommendations to reduce the number of young people coming into our custody and work with the courts to identify youth who can and should be safely released with supportive programs or ankle monitors. Our Probation Department needs to consider all these strategies and if there are any they won’t pursue, they need to be transparent about why.”
In addition to considering some youth for monitored release, the commission also suggested an overhaul to the intake process in an effort to slow the influx of new detainees and relocating lower-risk boys awaiting sentencing to Probation Department camps.
Commissioners and supervisors also called for evaluating youth detainees sentenced to the “secure youth treatment facility” to determine eligibility for step down programs or the state’s Pine Grove Fire Camp.
Another commission recommendation was to move girls and “gender-expansive” youth awaiting sentencing to the Dorothy Kirby Center in Commerce and hasten transfers to no more than two days for detainees who have already been sentenced to court-ordered placements.
“In the absence of a clear, transparent, and community-informed plan from our struggling Probation Department, we must rely on the leadership of the Probation Oversight Commission and the meaningful solutions they’ve developed in collaboration with county stakeholders and the public,” Horvath said in a statement. “None of the options before us are perfect, but doing nothing — or simply moving forward with Probation’s inadequate proposal — is unacceptable. I fear we will replicate the same failures in new locations at a time when our youth are counting on us to provide the care and rehabilitation they deserve.”
The Board of Supervisors’ approved motion directs Viera Rosa to assess the oversight commission recommendations and report back to the commission in writing or verbally at the panel’s upcoming meeting Thursday.
In a statement Friday on the department’s depopulation plan submitted for the court’s consideration, Viera Rosa said, “This is a responsible and thoughtful step forward that reflects our commitment to court compliance, operational reform, and youth rehabilitation. While this is not a final plan, it represents a strong foundation to realign youth with the right programs and services — and do so in a way that brings lasting, systemwide improvements.”
In December, the Board of State and Community Corrections declared Los Padrinos unsuitable to house youth detainees because of alleged staffing shortfalls and other deficiencies. However, the county had no viable alternative to house the youth detainees and has continued to operate the facility in defiance of state regulators shutdown order.
The Probation Department has appealed the BSCC’s unsuitability ruling, asserting that improvements have been made, but regulators have upheld the closure order.
Management and operational issues have plagued Los Padrinos since it hastily reopened two years ago to house detainees from Central Juvenile Hall in Boyle Heights and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar. The BSCC ordered the county to close both of those facilities.
Since the reopening, Los Padrinos has suffered from short-staffing, escape attempts and allegations of violence among detainees — in some cases while probation officers allegedly stood by and failed to stop fights.
In March, 30 probation officers were facing criminal charges involving alleged cases of youth detainee violence at the facility. According to prosecutors, probation officers would stage “gladiator fights” among the detainees. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office alleged 69 fights were allowed to occur involving youths at Los Padrinos between July and December 2023.
A commission report on the recommendations is on the county’s website.
