LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Citing what repeated operational failures at Los Padrinos and Barry J. Nidorf juvenile halls, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday his office will move to establish a receivership for Los Angeles County’s troubled juvenile detention system.
At a downtown Los Angeles news conference, Bonta pointed to ongoing issues with the county’s management of the juvenile halls, citing youth-on- youth violence at Los Padrinos in Downey and drug overdoses in the facility. Bonta called the issues “system failures … that put lives at risk.”
Bonta said he plans to file a court petition seeking to have a receiver pointed to oversee operation of the juvenile halls.
The proposal was met with quick support from county Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes Los Padrinos.
“We have spent years trying to improve conditions, exhausted every tool at the County level, and still, we are failing these young people,” Hahn said in a statement. `I stand ready to do everything I can to help receivership succeed and I urge our county leadership, our Chief Probation Officer, and our county lawyers to stay at the table to shape a process that helps ensure the kids who are not only in our custody but are in our care get the help and support they need.
Los Padrinos has come under fire repeatedly since it was opened in 2023 to house youth transferred from two other facilities deemed unsuitable for youth detention. The Downey facility itself has been deemed unsuitable on multiple occasions by state regulators, and it continues to operate under an unsuitability declaration.
A Los Angeles juvenile court judge in May approved a Probation Department plan to draw down the number of youth housed at the facility, which has been plagued with issues stemming mostly from short-staffing, along with concerns about detainees not being transported to classes or medical appointments.
In March, 30 county probation officers where hit with criminal charges stemming from allegations that so-called “gladiator fights” were being staged among the youth detainees while officers looked on.
In early July, an outside contractor was caught allegedly bringing Xanax pills into the Los Padrinos.
Alejandro Lopez, 21, of Downey, an employee of the nonprofit organization Student Nest, was charged with one felony count each of bringing or sending a controlled substance into a juvenile hall or camp and possession for sale of a designated controlled substance, officials announced earlier this month.
It is also alleged that Lopez induced others, including Los Padrinos ward, to participate in the scheme.
Two days after Lopez was arrested, at least nine people, including one youth detainee, were taken to a hospital following exposure to an unknown substance at Los Padrinos.
Last week, another contract worker was detained after trying to a bring a concealed blade into the facility.
“During the routine security screening at the facility entrance, Citiguard Security personnel discovered a flat, concealable knife inside the employee’s bag,” according to a Probation Department statement. “The employee was immediately denied entry into the facility and probation personnel were notified.”
The employee, who was hired through Apple One to work with the county Department of Youth Development, was escorted from the premises and ordered not to return while the matter was investigated. A search of his belongings also revealed a canister of pepper spray.
Both the spray and the knife were seized as evidence. The employee’s name was not released.
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