State regulators have approved Los Angeles County’s plan to consolidate 275 youth detainees at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall ahead of the state-imposed shutdown of the county’s two other juvenile halls later this month.
The sign-off was one of the last major hurdles before the county Probation Department can begin moving the youths to Los Padrinos in Downey. County crews worked 16 hours a day at Los Padrinos over the past two months to to meet a looming deadline from the state to empty Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar and Central Juvneile Hall in Lincoln Heights by July 23 due to “unsuitable” conditions.
In a statement, interim Chief Probation Officer Guillermo Viera Rosa applauded the county’s efforts and described the Board of State and Community Corrections approval as a “huge milestone” in its push to reopen Los Padrinos, which closed in 2019.
“It shows what can happen when colleagues across County departments pull together, focus on a single objective and work as a team with a real sense of urgency and purpose,” Viera Rosa said. “Reopening Los Padrinos has been a daunting task, and we are accomplishing it in record time.”
The BSCC notified L.A. County that it had passed a preinspection of the facility in a letter Friday, July 7. The approval allows Los Padrinos to house up to 317 youth. Additional inspections will be necessary if the county decides to bring more beds online in the future, though county officials have said they have no plans to go beyond the current occupancy limit.
Los Padrinos, originally opened in 1957, is a 26-acre campus consisting of 37 buildings, 19 living units and nine dormitories; however, only about nine of the living units will be used, according to the county. Each of the areas inspected by the BSCC had to comply with the standards applicable at the time that portion was built, or last underwent major renovations. As such, different parts of Los Padrinos had to meet different standards ranging as far back as 1969 and as recently as 2001.
The county did not make any permanent structural changes to Los Padrinos, though its crews did complete several repairs, “including painting, flooring, new furnishings, mattresses, fixtures, cameras, interior and exterior lighting upgrades, intercom, plumbing and partitions for restroom privacy,” according to the inspection report.
While L.A. County has passed the preinspection, the state’s letter warns that Los Padrinos still needs more improvements.
“Please note that while there were no outstanding items of noncompliance, the facility, as constructed several decades ago, would not meet modern standards for juvenile detention facility construction,” wrote Lisa Southwell, the field representative who conducted the inspections. “As such, the BSCC will continue to provide technical assistance and advise mitigating any clear and present risks to ensure the safe and secure operation of the facility.”
The BSCC declared Barry J. Nidorf and Central juvenile halls “unsuitable” in May over poor conditions brought on by an ongoing staffing crisis. The county has struggled to maintain enough staff to ensure the youth are brought to school, get time outdoors, or can be brought to bathrooms at night. A report by the Los Angeles County Office of Inspector General in March found drugs and other contraband flowed into the facilities with ease as a result of the staffing issues and poor security standards at the two soon-to-be shuttered facilities.
Since March, the juvenile halls have experienced at least eight hospitalizations for drug use, including a fatal overdose in May.
The increased use of canines in searches over the last few months and reforms to the juvenile halls’ security checkpoints have seemingly reduced the amount of drugs found inside the facilities, though incidents of drug abuse are still occurring, according to a July 7 report from Inspector General Max Huntsman.
“Despite these increased efforts, during this reporting period over the course of one weekend four youths from BJNJH were hospitalized due to suspected ingestion of illicit drugs,” Huntsman wrote. “While the youths survived and returned to the facility, these incidents indicate that illicit drugs are still entering the juvenile hall facilities and the Probation Department must be diligent in its prevention efforts.”
Officials hope that consolidating at Los Padrinos will not only improve the physical conditions, but will also allow more efficient use of the county’s limited staff until the department can stabilize.
Los Angeles County will continue to use both Barry J. Nidorf and Central for other purposes after the official closure dates. Barry J. Nidorf will house about 60 individuals in its Secure Youth Treatment Facility, a separate unit compromised of youth placed in local custody following the closure of the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice.
That unit is unaffected by the BSCC’s closure of the larger juvenile hall due essentially to an oversight in state law, and some advocates have suggested they plan to sue once the July 23 deadline passes if the SYTF detainees are left in an “unsuitable” building.
Central, meanwhile, will be used as a law enforcement intake facility and medical center for Los Padrinos and Barry J. Nidorf.