The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has condemned a newly approved plan from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors that would transfer 275 youth detainees to the previously shuttered Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall and bring in reserve sheriff’s deputies to fill staff vacancies.
In a statement Wednesday, May 3, ACLU SoCal pointed to two of its ongoing lawsuits against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for poor conditions in its jails as evidence of the agency’s inability to “provide basic, humane care for people under their custody.”
The decision to assign reserve deputies to the juvenile halls to ease a staffing crunch “is not the care first philosophy the board has long promised,” said Melissa Camacho, a senior staff attorney at ACLU SoCal.
“Already, we’re suing the sheriff’s department for its failure to provide adequate care or safety to people in our jails,” Camacho said. “It’s therefore shameful and dangerous to think that reserve deputies — with absolutely no training to take care of children — can care for youth in detention.”
The plan approved by the Board of Supervisors at its meeting Tuesday would establish Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey as the county’s main juvenile facility, shift Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar to solely house its Secure Youth Treatment Facility, and limit Central Juvenile Hall in Lincoln Heights to law enforcement intake and medical assessments.
Los Padrinos, which was closed in 2019, is one of the facilities named in a lawsuit from nearly 300 former incarcerated youths who allege they were sexually abused while being held by the county.
275 detainees would be moved
At a hearing in April, county officials said they had a combined total of roughly 350 youths detained at Barry J. Nidorf and Central juvenile halls. Of those, the new plan calls for the transfer of 275 of the detainees — all of whom have not been sentenced or, in some cases, yet to be…
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