Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall will remain open until at least early January after a judge put on hold an order to close the troubled detention center.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Miguel Espinoza asked the Probation Department to appear in court on Monday to argue why Downey Hall should remain open despite the state’s order to close.
Closing Los Padrinos would require moving the roughly 250 youth inside the hall elsewhere, potentially to less secure camps, home confinement or facilities in nearby counties.
The state oversight board, the California Commission on Community Corrections, ordered the hall to close by Dec. 12, citing repeated problems with staffing shortages. The county ignored the order, leaving the youth inside and filing an appeal in court.
“There’s no question that we have to make dramatic changes to Los Padrinos,” Espinoza told Los Angeles County officials at Monday’s hearing.
After receiving briefings from the Probation Department, Espinoza continued the hearing until January 10, calling the situation “fluid.”
“The Probation Department is working diligently with the courts, state authorities, community partners, and other stakeholders to resolve this issue in an effective and sustainable manner,” the Probation Department said Monday. said in a statement. “Our common goal is to ensure a rehabilitative environment for the justice-involved youth in our care while meeting public safety and the highest standards of care.”
The county Board of Supervisors recently declared a “local state of emergency” due to the crisis at Hall. The emergency order gives the chief new powers and allows him to temporarily direct some county employees to the hall.
“Staffing is the most difficult item to comply with, in part because it requires a more long-term plan to correct it,” Probation Director Guillermo Vieira Rosa told the judge Monday. ” he said.
Espinosa questioned whether the secretary would be able to bring the facility into compliance with state standards.
“If I didn’t believe I could do this, I wouldn’t be here before you,” Viera Rosa responded.
Attorneys for the Probation Department argued in legal filings that the state inspector general’s finding that the juvenile hall was dangerously understaffed was “patently wrong.” The county said inspectors relied on staffing numbers that assumed the hall was filled to capacity with 309 young people, rather than the hall’s actual population of about 250.
County attorneys said if a judge orders the Los Padrinos property vacant, the young people will have nowhere else to go. The state closed two other halls in the county last year following similar staffing issues, and neighboring counties are now “uniformly refusing to house the youth at Los Padrinos,” according to legal filings. ”
“We’re not asking the court to give up. We’re not saying there can’t be anything done,” county attorney Andy Boehm told the judge. “We maintain that there is no other juvenile facility that can house these children.”
Frank Santoro of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office argued that it would be dangerous to release the young men.
As of Dec. 9, 78% of Los Padrinos’ 259 youths were charged with or found to have committed a “serious or violent crime,” according to a District Attorney’s Office filing. Eighty-three young people were charged with murder, attempted murder, or were found to have committed murder.
“There is no more preventable, obvious, foreseeable harm than leaving these people on the streets,” Santoro said. “And moving them is not a good idea for many reasons.”
Michael Zabarge, the county public defender, argued that the district attorney’s office is “fear-mongering about how dangerous these individuals are.” The office, which represents 106 Los Padrinos youth, said the county violated state law by operating the hall, which the state deemed inappropriate, and that all youths would be transferred to other facilities or released. He argued that it was necessary to
“They claim that it is in the best interest of the young people to remain at Los Padrinos. That is not true,” Teberge said. “We all know this is not a healthy place.”
