The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency Tuesday over the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.
The declaration instructs attorneys and staff to pursue all remedies to keep the facility open in defiance of a state closure order. The proclamation introduced by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis also calls for a series of actions aimed at bolstering staffing at the facility, contending that personnel shortages are at the root of the hall's problems.
The emergency declaration originally called for county attorneys to take all actions necessary to prevent detained youth from being released from the facility due to the state's closure order. But it was amended to instruct the Probation Department to examine alternative detention options for youth detainees accused of lesser, non-violent offenses -- including release to community-based step-down facilities or to their homes with appropriate monitoring.
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Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall has been plagued with operational issues since it was hastily reopened last year to house detainees relocated from Central Juvenile Hall in Boyle Heights and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, which were both ordered closed by the state.
Since it reopened, Los Padrinos has suffered from short staffing, allegations of violence among detainees -- sometimes while probation officers allegedly stood by without intervening -- and escape attempts.
In October, the Board of State and Community Corrections, which oversees detention facilities, deemed Los Padrinos unsuitable to house youth, and gave the county a Dec. 12 deadline to correct staffing deficiencies or close the facility. A recent follow-up inspection by the BSCC found that the problems were persisting, and the closure deadline remained in place.
However, the county -- with no other viable facility to house the youth detainees -- has continued to operate the facility.
