Two Los Angeles County juvenile facilities have such lax security that illicit substances and other contraband are thrown over fences, dropped by drones and even delivered by fake DoorDash drivers and others who walk through security without ever being searched, according to a new report by the county’s watchdog office.
An investigation by the Office of Inspector General, submitted to the Board of Supervisors on Friday, April 7, cited a troubling lapse at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall as an example of the security issues at the juvenile halls. Two detainees overdosed, including a teen who was hospitalized twice in a two-day period, before the staff at Nidorf conducted a search of the unit where the teens lived. Both teens were saved using Narcan, which reverses opiate overdoses.
The K-9 search of that single unit on March 1 — two days after the first overdose — uncovered 11 fentanyl pills, two unknown pills, large bindles of what appeared to be more fentanyl, a crushed pill on a windowsill and a makeshift straw with a white residue on it.
A third youth in the unit appeared to be under the influence of drugs at time and was searched, but “was not drug tested or transferred to the medical unit for observation,” according to the report from the Office of Inspector General.
Searches like this weren’t frequent, investigators found.
“The documents reviewed by the Office of Inspector General indicate this is the only K-9 search that was conducted in this specific unit since January 1, 2023,” wrote Max Huntsman, the county’s inspector general, in the report.
The new report states pervasive security flaws, exasperated by a staffing crisis, have allowed drugs to proliferate at not only Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, but the Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles as well.
“I am incredibly concerned with the reports that the Probation Department, the Probation Oversight Commission, and the Office of Inspector General have shared about the…
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