A Los Angeles County judge took a big step to close the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey on Friday, and a state watchdog found it “unsuitable” for young people.
Judge Miguel Espinoza issued a tentative ruling that allowing the Los Angeles County probation department to continue juvenile housing at the facility is “illegal.”
Rather than ordering the lobby immediately, Espinoza told the probation department to submit the plan by early May, detailing how the plan would move about 270 teenagers, mainly between 15 and 18 years old, to other safe locations. Both parties will return to court next month.
The ruling escalates a months-long legal battle. The state and community committee ruled that Los Padrinos would close in December 2024, finding that the department did not have enough staff to operate safely.
But probation officials ignored the order with the support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The Los Angeles County Public Defender Office immediately raised a legal challenge on behalf of one of its clients, which put the matter ahead of Espinoza.
“The chaos in the probation department can have a dangerous ripple effect on the safety of our young people. After the report, we have seen neglect, mismanagement and abuse in the report, and officials insist that change is coming,” Luis Rodriguez, head of Youth Services at the Office of Public Defenders, said in a statement. “Today’s court order is a step in the right direction.”
Linda Penner, chairman of the State Department and the Community Correction Commission, also celebrated the Espinoza ruling.
“We believe today’s order is an important and meaningful step to ensure the safety and well-being of youth under the custody of Los Angeles County,” she said.
Probation Minister Guillermo Viera Rosa attended the hearing Friday and declined to comment outside the East La Court. In view of the order, the department “will act quickly to implement a population reduction program for Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, which is aligned with our broader facility strategy and prioritizes public safety,” Vicky Waters said.
According to Waters, about three-quarters of the young people Los Padrinos accommodated are awaiting a court hearing that is linked to violent crimes, including murder, attempted murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping and gang crime.
Viera Rosa traveled to Sacramento last week to appeal the National and Community Corrections Commission ruling, believing that the department met the minimum staffing requirement.
But the board rejected the appeal, noting that the “staff shortage” still caused young people to not receive proper medical treatment, lack of school time and be hit in case of impact, which is sometimes used to calm harassment.
“We continue to worry about the department’s ability to develop long-term sustainable solutions to address the shortcomings of understaffing,” the final report of the board reads. “The facility staffing documentation continues to indicate that deployed staff are being used to backfill youth supervisors, which suggests that the department continues to rely on a solution designed to be back in 2022.
News of misconduct and harm to young people by Los Padrinos continues to pile up in the months since the probation has ignored the state and community correction order.
The California Attorney General’s Office prosecuted 30 officials last month, allegedly allowing or in some cases arranged so-called “gladiators” among young people who had been months of Los Padrinos. Surveillance footage first released by The Times in April 2024 showed a group of officers standing while eight young men took turns attacking a teenager with a fractured nose and other injuries. Some officers can be seen laughing and shaking hands with the attackers.
At least three teenagers suffered an overdose in Los Padrinos last week. In March, a teenager was stabbed while in school and, according to direct knowledge of the incident by multiple sources, they discussed the ongoing investigation while anonymously. A spokesman for the probation ministry said the victims suffered only “life-threatening injuries.”
A 19-year-old man also claimed he was sexually abused by a 29-year-old mental health employee in Los Padrinos, according to court records. His attorney Jamal Tooson claimed that the abuse was discovered only when probation officials discovered clear photos sent by employees when searching the teen’s room.
Representatives from the probation and mental health department declined to comment on the incident. It is not clear whether criminal investigations have been conducted on the alleged abuse.
Los Padrinos was shut down in 2019 because of the decline in the number of youth sentenced to jail in Los Angeles County and accused of excessive force using pepper spray against officers. The facility reopened in July 2023 as the State Department and Community Calibration closed two other teenage halls in Los Angeles County.
Within a month, a chaotic incident occurred in which seven young men smashed a table to use it as a weapon, attacked employees and tried to break into the surrounding community.
