The judge approved a plan Friday that would remove more than 100 young people from a troubled Los Angeles teenager hall, once a site for riots, drug overdoses and so-called “gladiator battles.”
Los Angeles County Senior Judge Miguel Espinoza signed a plan for the Los Angeles County probation department that relocates dozens of detainees from Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall after a few months after state watchdogs ordered the hall to be closed.
Since December, the Downey facility has been home to about 270 young people, most of whom are between 15 and 18 years old. The probation department has faced years of efforts to get officials out of chaos in the halls.
But the probation department ignored the state legislature’s order to close. Los Padrinos continued to ignore months of action because the agency had no authority to execute its own orders. During that time frame, several young people suffered drug overdoses and a teenager was prosecuted for suspected organizing or allowing fights between young people to be fought.
Espinoza ordered probation officials last month to start shrinking the number of young people held in Los Padrinos so that state regulations can be followed.
According to the probation department, about three-quarters of Los Padrinos’ young people are awaiting court hearings linked to violent crimes, including murder, attempted murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping and gang crimes.
The probation department plans to publicly announce Los Padrinos’ public occasion earlier this month and promises to remove 103 detainees from the facility by June.
Under the department’s plan, young people who are awaiting trial of a case that may include it in the county’s safe youth treatment facility will be transferred to Barry J. Nidorf Hall in Silma. Others will be moved out of Los Padrinos and into lower security camps, where some juvenile justice advocates say teenagers are much better and are much less likely to act violently.
“The program reflects our continued commitment to balancing public safety, legal compliance, and the rehabilitation needs of young people in our care,” the department said in a statement. “It is important to note that the court denied the massive release of young people and that the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall will not be fully population or closed.”
Last year, Espinoza initially weighed the closure of the facility when the Public Defender Office questioned its legitimacy of not being able to operate on the BSCC. On Friday, he refused to adopt a plan through the Probation Supervision Committee that could lead to some release of some young people through the review process.
Some members of the watchdog were frustrated that Espinoza’s order would not solve the bigger problems that plagued the probation department for many years. Milinda Kakani, member of the POC board and director of youth justice at the Children’s Defense Fund, also noted that these moves could lead some young people to return them to Nidorf Hall after graduating from prison-like SYTF, which is their “large compound.”
“I think it’s a huge destruction for a young man, back to the facilities they work hard,” Kakani said.
Espinoza warned that he could take further action if the department’s plans do not comply with state regulations. It is unclear when the next BSCC check will be conducted by the supervisory agency. A spokesperson for the agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Ministry of Probation must provide Los Padrinos with the latest updates on Espinoza by July.
