A last-minute reinspection of Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall by state officials may decide the fate of Los Angeles County’s largest juvenile hall, but only if a state oversight board decides to give the county yet another chance.
The Board of State and Community Corrections has ordered the understaffed juvenile hall to empty the roughly 300 youth housed there unless county officials can prove they have addressed substandard conditions before Thursday, Dec. 12. The Los Angeles County Probation Department has not revealed any backup plan in the event it fails the reinspection, which began Thursday, Dec. 5, and remained ongoing as of Friday evening.
In a letter requesting the reinspection, Probation Chief Guillermo Vera Rosa, whose own future with the department will be decided next week, told the BSCC’s counsel that the department has been “working hard to remedy the underlying staffing problems over the past several weeks,” but warned that if BSCC does not reverse its decision the county has “no other juvenile hall in which to place the youth” after Dec. 12.
Separately, a department spokesperson in a statement expressed confidence that the improvements made “will ensure compliance.”
It wouldn’t be the first time that Los Angeles County has narrowly avoided the closure of Los Padrinos — it has done so once already this year — but some critics believe this time may be different. While passing the inspection is required to stay open, BSCC members, who have expressed frustrations with L.A. County’s repeated failures, could still choose not to lift the order if they determine the compliance is not likely to last.
To stop the closure, state law requires the BSCC to convene and take action declaring the Downey facility “suitable” again. But currently, the board won’t meet again until Dec. 18. The board’s agenda includes a placeholder for a determination of suitability, pending the results of the reinspection, but Los Angeles County would need to continue to operate Los Padrinos illegally for six days in that scenario, opening itself up to lawsuits, or even — though highly unlikely — criminal prosecution.
A legal opinion issued in 2000 by California’s then-Attorney General Bill Lockyer makes it clear that violating the state’s order to close a juvenile hall is a misdemeanor and could result in the removal of county officials from office. That, however, requires the county district attorney’s office, or the attorney general, to take up the case, and neither was willing to say they would.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said they did not have any information to provide about that possibility at this time. Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, which recently reached an agreement with Los Angeles County about reforms at its juvenile facilities, did not respond to a request for comment.
Challenges loom
The real challenge will come from juvenile justice advocates. Already, at least one organization has pledged to sue Los Angeles County if it keeps Los Padrinos open for a single day past the deadline. Simultaneously, attorneys representing the youth in Los Padrinos — all of whom have yet to be sentenced — are likely to file motions in each case asking a judge to intervene because, at that point, their clients will be confined to a facility that shouldn’t be open any longer.
Sean Garcia-Leys, a former oversight commission member and the co-executive director of the Peace and Justice Law Center, said his organization is one of those preparing to sue.
While a commissioner, Garcia-Leys frequently visited Los Padrinos and participated in the commission’s most recent inspection in June. Inspectors during that visit found a troubling number of youth with visible injuries, including broken limbs and bruised eyes, a sign of the continued violence within the facility.
The BSCC at its most recent meetings has made it clear that they “no longer want to be duped” by the county, perhaps signaling that, this time, Los Angeles County won’t find another reprieve, he said. The state previously forced Los Padrinos’ predecessors, Central Juvenile Hall and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, to close in 2023 over the same issues.
“This has been going on for many, many years, when it’s not supposed to go on for more than a few months,” Garcia-Leys said. “What can’t happen is that we continue to go through this same cycle of ineffective reforms that leave hundreds of young people subject to violence and inhumane conditions.”
No enforcement mechanism
The 2000 opinion from Lockyer suggests the BSCC does not have the authority to initiate legal action on its own, effectively meaning it has no enforcement mechanism if Los Angeles County fails to comply, and will have to rely on lawsuits from advocates and defense attorneys.
One possible outcome is that a lawsuit could force L.A. County to dramatically reduce the population at Los Padrinos to a more manageable level, by sending more youth to community detention, or to other counties temporarily. If Los Padrinos dropped to about 100 detainees, the diminished staff likely would be able to de-escalate fights without using pepper spray and provide the minimum services required under the law, he said.
“I don’t think there are any real scenarios where it closes 100% at this point,” he said.
Garcia-Leys and others said they do not expect Los Padrinos to pass inspection.
Cannot accept ‘patchworking’
Eduardo Mundo, chair of the Los Angles County Probation Oversight Commission, said he has lost “complete faith” in the county Probation Department’s administration. The former probation supervisor continues to hear stories from current employees about the chaos at Los Padrinos every day.
Even if Los Padrinos meets the legally required staffing ratio of one officer per 10 youth this time, it isn’t likely to last, he said. The department has been unable to hire enough new officers, or to convince enough existing officers to show up for work, for the past two years.
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Nearly 20% of shifts at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall did not meet staffing minimums in July
It resorted to reassigning officers from the field — a move that made Probation Chief Viera Rosa so unpopular that the union representing rank-and-file officers recently cheered his potential resignation — to avoid a similar closure order in April. Within months of that order, the facility had fallen back out of compliance.
By July, nearly 20% of the juvenile hall’s shifts did not meet the minimum ratio. The constant substitution of officers at Los Padrinos contributes to the instability because the youth aren’t able to build trust or respect when the officers in their unit change every day, Mundo said.
“As long as they’re patchworking it, it’s not better,” Mundo said. “We can’t accept patchwork as a baseline. It’s getting better when the majority of the staff are attending work regularly and the majority of the staff are actually the detention service officers assigned there.”