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Los Angeles County leaders are scrambling again to stop the flow of illegal drugs in the county’s troubled juvenile hall.
County supervisors on Tuesday called on the probation department to tighten smuggling cessation after nine people were rushed to hospital after suspected drug exposure at Lospadrinos Juvenir Hall in Downey last week.
The supervisor voted 4-0, and the department installed “Airport Style Body Scanners” in two halls to improve the quality of drug sniffing dogs, and recently attempted to cancel a contract with Student Nest, a Fresno-based tutoring company that brought 170 Xanax pills to Rospadrino. Supervisor Holly Mitchell declined to vote.
“Probation cannot even hold a young Rospadrino man’s mother for fear of such drugs and contraband being handed over,” said superintendent Janice Hahn. “But the medicine continues to be in.”
Hahn said the drug crisis within Los Padrinos was “unlike what I’ve seen.” Young people say that it is often expensive when she visits.
Last week’s hospitalization included eight staff members and one young person. A department spokesperson said one suspected overdose and that the other hospitalizations were due to “possible exposure to an unidentified substance.”
Chief Guillermoviera Rosa told the board on Tuesday that two people hospitalized suffered epileptic attacks and another person had a “heart event.”
“It was a moment of crisis and it was for a while,” Viera Rosa said.
Viera Rosa became interim chief in May 2023, days after 18-year-old Bryan Diaz’s fatal overdose.
Viera Rosa has pledged to clean up rampant drug use within juvenile facilities run by the probation department, including the newly repeated Los Padrinos, which currently houses around 300 incarcerated youth. The net was set up around the Lospadrino to stop people from throwing medicines on the wall. A criminal investigation team was formed within the department to search for sources of contraband. All employees now need to pass security and carry their belongings in clear bags.
The chief, known to be blissful in direction from the board, said some of the improvements that Hearn had been seeking were already happening. Airport style scanners were already ordered. He suggested that it would be better to spend money to expand it for drug rehabilitation services.
“If a lot of the movements are something we’re already doing or ongoing, that’s not particularly useful,” Viera Rosa told the supervisor.
Hahn said her staff reached out to probation and felt that the recommendations were on the best path.
“We’re not trying to bother you, nor are we trying to break into you or make your life worse in any way,” Hearn said.
Some supporters felt that the behavior by the supervisor was misplaced and focused on security rather than on route cases that led so many young people within the juvenile hall to use drugs.
“We encourage you to go inside the facility and talk to young people about their lack of programming quality and their desire for meaning,” says Milinda Kakani, an outspoken member of the Observatory Committee. “What kind of hell do we impose young people — that’s what we’re supposed to be talking about. Everything else in this movement is the knee response.”
Others recommended that the county be stricter on the outcomes of adults who bring in drugs.
“We cannot acknowledge that the primary source of drugs to an institution is through adults who are staff or volunteers entering the institution,” says Sabrina Clayton, policy advisor for the Anti-Residivism Coalition.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has indicted 21-year-old student nest tutor Alejandro Lopez after he is allegedly possessed 170 tablets believed to be Xanax in Los Padrinos. The district attorney also accused 18-year-old Orlando Quebus of selling Xanax. Probation investigators said they observed that the quebus in Lopez’s hands bundled pills wrapped in electrical tape.
“Everyone who participates in smuggling drugs into these facilities is accountable,” Distty said. Nathan Hochman said in a statement.
Viera Rosa said the department has a student nest and two tutoring contracts, one for around $500,000 and the other for $800,000. The student nest has also contracted with the county library system to provide personal instruction at the library, according to county records.
“I don’t know how much they oversee the so-called private tutors. …The kids are on YouTube. I’ve heard a lot of red flags about them,” Hearn told the probation chief. “We must start sending a big message to other contractors who come to our facility that this is unacceptable.”
Student Nest vice-president Chander Joshi said the leadership company has been working with the probation department for nearly a decade. He usually has a place with two to 15 private tutors entering the hall, he says. He declined to comment on the charges against the employee, citing HR issues.
“They have the right to decide how they want to move their contract forward,” Joshi said. “I understand that this is not an ideal situation. We do a lot of great work.”
The crackdown occurs as the county is once again on the hot seat with state regulators. The state’s oversight board, the Amendment Committee, announced this week that Barry J. Nidolph Juvenile Hall was “inappropriate” to lock up young people because they were not properly trained in the use of force, among other issues.
Atty. General Rob Bonta is also considering placing LO AL County juvenile halls on the receiving vessels and will effectively remove them from the county’s management. Bonta previously told The Times, where the probation department is heading towards the “end of the line.”
“That’s a huge cloud over us right now,” director Hilda Solis said.
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