Troubled Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall will remain open through at least April after a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge delayed a ruling — for the third time — on whether to shutter the facility originally ordered to close in December.
Judge Miguel Espinoza, who is weighing the detention center’s viability in a case involving a juvenile accused of murder, continued a Friday hearing on the matter until April 18 while he awaits the conclusion of two pending reviews by state regulators that may impact his decision.
Inspectors from the Board of State and Community Corrections, the agency responsible for overseeing California’s jails and juvenile halls, conducted a reinspection focused on Los Padrinos’ staffing in early February, but had not completed it in time for Espinoza’s Feb. 14 court hearing. Simultaneously, a separate review, triggered by the county Probation Department’s failures in other areas, including excessive room confinements and poor tracking of uses of force, is expected be finished in March.
If the BSCC at its next meeting in early April concludes that Los Padrinos is back in compliance and no longer “unsuitable,” then the order to close would effectively be lifted, much to the chagrin of critics who have condemned the constant cycle of failed inspection after failed inspection.
Aaron Maguire, the BSCC’s acting executive director, told the appointed board Thursday, Feb. 13, that inspectors did see improvements at Los Padrinos, which has struggled to maintain adequate staffing since it opened in July 2023. The juvenile hall, bolstered by the redeployment of officers from the traditional probation side of the department, is now operating at “minimum” staffing levels more often, though Maguire cautioned that the department’s reliance on redeployed field officers is not a long-term solution.
“It is still very much a fragile situation down there,” Maguire said.
The continuances in Espinoza’s court have reportedly stalled out separate attempts to challenge the continued use of Los Padrinos, as judges refuse to take up the matter until Espinoza makes his ruling, according to the Public Defender’s Office. The office has called for the release of all of its clients to their families or noncarceral housing.
“The other courts have indicated they’re taking a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to see what this court does on this case,” said Michael Theberge, a deputy public defender, during Friday’s hearing. “We’ve been told time and time again this court is the lead.”
Detainees ‘repeatedly traumatized’
In the meantime, youth in Los Padrinos remain in a facility considered “unsuitable” by the state and continue to face violence, according to Mario Gonzalez, Theberge’s co-counsel. Gonzalez told Espinoza another client has been jumped three times and, though the attacks were first reported in January, the client has not been moved out of the unit.
“We’re placing them in situations where they’re being repeatedly traumatized,” Gonzalez said.
Judge Espinoza has struggled with how to deal with Los Padrinos for nearly two months. He has expressed concerns that forcing L.A. County to transfer youth to its other facilities could create more instability and has made it clear that fully closing the facility, without a suitable alternative, is not an option.
The juvenile hall, having repeatedly failed inspections due to its inability to meet minimum staffing, should have closed Dec. 12 under state law. But the Probation Department has refused to comply thus far, arguing there are no viable alternatives left other than keeping it open. The facility houses dozens of youth who have been accused — but not adjudicated — of serious crimes, including murder, and who are not eligible for community supervision, officials argue.
Los Padrinos is the county’s only remaining facility capable of holding this specific population and the state has not approved the transfer of any of those youth to other secure facilities, such as juvenile camps. Neighboring counties also have refused to take any portion of Los Padrinos’ population, and reductions to that population — which initially dropped from about 300 to 230 as a result of the department’s efforts — have stalled.
At the hearing, Espinoza ordered county prosecutors, the Public Defender’s Office and the Probation Department to work together to reevaluate the remaining youth inside Los Padrinos to determine if any qualify for release into community programs, regardless of their current placement orders.
Staffing issues persist
While officials expressed confidence that the situation at Los Padrinos is turning around, L.A. County’s efforts to more permanently bolster its staffing have met with only limited success so far. The department is pushing to rapidly hire new recruits, lateral transfers and dozens of social workers to help out, but it will be months before the first of those reinforcements are ready, officials said.
Elsewhere, a new program that pays officers to stay on standby as potential replacements for probation call-outs has struggled to garner signups and hit only about half of the department’s goal, according to testimony.
The department sent out a plea for mutual aid in late December that, if accepted, would have local police and the sheriff’s department, with assistance from an embedded probation officer, take over compliance checks on adult probationers to free up more of the department’s own employees for deployment to the juvenile hall. Probation officials met with the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Association this week and Kimberly Epps, deputy probation chief, described the discussions as “positive” when asked by Espinoza.
The police departments have yet to formally commit to the idea, but another meeting is planned for later this month. If an agreement is reached, the shift would likely take place in March or April, Epps said.
Though officials have continued to argue there are no alternatives, Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa is expected to announce during the Board of Supervisors’ meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18, that all of the girls at Los Padrinos in Downey will be relocated to Camp Kilpatrick in the Santa Mountains. Officials declined to comment officially on the plans ahead of time, but it could reduce the population at the juvenile hall by about 30 more detainees. The relocation, however, is subject to approval from the BSCC.
Viera Rosa is scheduled to present his “global plan” for the department to the supervisors at the time, according to Epps.
Originally Published:
