A state oversight board is giving Los Angeles County another month to fix its troubled juvenile halls, but board members warned the county must demonstrate real progress in that time frame or the facilities would still be declared “unsuitable” and shut down.
Though the Board of State and Community Corrections unanimously approved the delay, board Chair Linda Penner told L.A. County officials they had “repeatedly” failed the young people in their custody and expressed frustration with the county’s inability to right its juvenile halls.
“We went through this process at the end of last year and on the heels of that, we’ve turned around and heard the conditions in L.A. County have not improved,” said Penner, a former chief probation officer for Fresno County.
“It sounds trite, but I struggle with trusting L.A. County going forward, and with that struggle comes young people in your care, who aren’t given adequate programming, that are locked in a room overnight and unable to use restrooms, and who are being asked to sit around and watch TV and play video games all day,” she said.
Penner said the extra time would allow the state regulatory board’s staff to further study the county’s proposed remedies and to embed inspectors into the juvenile halls to verify the county is following through with its promises.
BSCC staff members recommended the delay because L.A. County has “has proactively moved to make improvements at both facilities,” has submitted a supplemental plan to address the problems and has hired new key personnel, according to a report.
Progress needed by May
BSCC will now re-convene in mid-May to reassess the status of the county’s two juvenile halls. If the facilities are deemed “unsuitable” at that time, L.A. County will need to immediately address the remaining issues within 60 days or it will be unable to house youths at those locations.
This isn’t the first time the county juvenile halls have been in the…
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