Los Angeles County has passed two critical inspections necessary to potentially avoid the closure of two troubled juvenile detention facilities and the relocation of hundreds of youth in the county’s custody.
Staff at the Board of State and Community Corrections, the regulatory body that oversees California’s prisons and juvenile halls, say the two county-run facilities, Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey and the Barry J. Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Facility in Sylmar, have come back into compliance with the state’s minimum standards after having repeatedly failed inspections over the past eight months.
The agency’s inspectors now are recommending the board vote at its meeting Thursday, April 11, to reverse an earlier decision that would, if left unchanged, force the closure of both facilities on April 16.
The board must make the final determination as to whether L.A. County has improved enough to avoid the shutdown.
State support likely
History suggests the BSCC is likely to support keeping the facilities open. The agency has forced the closure of only two juvenile halls in its 12-year history, but in those cases, which also involved Los Angeles County, state law provided less discretion.
In February, the BSCC declared Los Padrinos and Barry J. Nidorf “unsuitable” for the continued confinement of youth, largely due to persistent understaffing that left officers unable to get the youth in their custody to school on time and to the bathroom during night shifts. Such a designation requires the facility to close within 60 days unless it can clear up all of the identified deficiencies before the deadline.
That’s what the BSCC’s own inspectors now say has occurred.
Critics and advocates for juvenile justice reform are skeptical that L.A. County, after years of failing inspections for the same reasons, has suddenly made a turnaround. Some are even urging the county to take extreme measures and release all of the youth in their custody. A group…
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