A judge approved a plan on Friday to move more than 100 young people from a juvenile room in Los Angeles in difficulty which was the site of riots, drug overdoses and so-called “gladiator fights” in recent years.
The higher judge of the County of Los Angeles, Miguel Espinoza, signed the plan of the County Probation Department to move dozens of prisoners from Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, months after the closure of a state surveillance body.
The installation of Downey, which houses around 270 young people, most of whom are between 15 and 18 years old, has been under fire since last December, when the State Commission and the Community ordered them due to repeated failures to meet the minimum staff requirements. The probation service has faced a fight of several years to bring officers to go to work in chaotic rooms.
But the probation service ignored the order of the Council of State to close. Since the body does not have the power to enforce its own orders and that the California prosecutor’s office refused to intervene, Los Padrinos continued to operate for months. In this period of time, several young people have undergone drug overdoses, a teenager was stabbed in the eyes and 30 probation agents were charged for having pretended or authorized the fights between young people.
Acting on a legal challenge launched by the office of the County Public Defender, Espinoza ordered probation officials last month to start reducing the number of young people organized in Los Padrinos so that he can comply with state regulations.
About three -quarters of young people in Los Padrinos expect hearings linked to violent offenses, including murder, murder attempt, assault, theft, kidnapping and gang crimes, according to the probation service.
The probation service has rendered its despair plan to deperate Los Padrinos Public earlier this month, promising to withdraw 103 detainees from the installation by June.
As part of the Ministry’s plan, young people waiting for a trial on cases that could land them in the youth treatment center in the county will be transferred to Barry J. Nidorf Hall to Sylmar. Others will be moved from Los Padrinos and in the lower security camps, where some defenders of justice for minors say that adolescents work much better and are much less likely to act violent.
“This plan reflects our continuous commitment to balance public security, legal compliance and the rehabilitation needs of young people we have on the custody,” the ministry said in a statement. “It is essential to note that the court denied a blind mass release of youth and that Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall will not be completely depopulated or closed.”
Espinoza initially weighed the closure of the installation last year when the public defender’s office questioned the legality of his continuous operation in defiance of the BSCC. Friday, he refused to adopt a plan for the Probation Supervisory Committee which could have led to the publication of certain young people thanks to an examination process.
Some members of the surveillance organization have expressed their frustration that Espinoza’s order will not solve the greater problems that have tormented the probation service for years. Milindi Kakani, member of the POC board of directors and director of justice for young people in the children’s defense fund, also noted that the movements could make some young people go back by returning them to Nidorf Hall after having already obtained their SYTF diploma in the form of prison, which some people call derisory “the compound”.
“I imagine that it is deeply damaging for a young person to return to the establishment they had worked so hard to go out,” said Kakani.
Espinoza warned that he could take other measures if the ministry’s plan does not correct it with state regulations. It was not clear when the next inspection of the BSCC of LOS Padrinos would take place and a spokesperson for the supervisory organization did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The probation service must provide Espinoza with an update on the conditions in Los Padrinos by July.
California Daily Newspapers
