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State regulators again declare LA County juvenile facilities unsuitable
VOL. 12,
Bass blasts motion for sanctions over homeless encampment
By City News Service
By City News Service
A
state regulatory board Thursday deemed two Los Angeles County juvenile detention centers “unsuitable” to house youth detainees, beginning a 60-day clock for the county to rectify issues of noncompliance, after which the board could order the facilities to close. The California Board of State and Community Corrections, meeting in Sacramento, unanimously voted to approve the “unsuitable” designation for the recently opened Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey and the Barry J. Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Facility in Sylmar. Los Padrinos houses predisposition youth detainees awaiting resolution of their court cases, while the Nidorf SYTF facility holds postdisposition youth offenders who have already been convicted. The county hastily reopened Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall last year and transferred all pre-disposition youth to the facility, moving them away from Nidorf Hall in Sylmar and Central Juvenile Hall in Lincoln Heights, which were both declared unsuitable and ordered to close by the BSCC. At that time, the BSCC did not have jurisdiction over the Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Facility for post-disposition youth, but it was granted that authority by the state later in the year. Thursday’s decision by the BSCC leaves the future of youth detention in the county in question, although county Probation Department officials tried to convince the board that it is already in substantial compliance with state regu-
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The barbed-wired wall at the Barry J. Nidorf youth detention facility in Sylmar. | Photo courtesy of Kim Kardashian/Facebook
lations, despite the findings of recent board inspections. The Probation Department has been under fire for years over the operation of juvenile detention facilities. County Supervisor Janice Hahn issued a statement following Thursday’s board meeting questioning whether the agency can be trusted to make needed changes. “It is unfortunate that the Probation Department made excuses at today’s BSCC meeting instead of owning up to the unacceptable conditions at two of our probation facilities,” Hahn said. “The BSCC wants to see real change and I expect the same. Multiple probation chiefs have been unable to fix the problems facing the department. I am concerned about the future of the Probation Department and whether they are capable of the reform that we all know needs to happen.” The BSCC’s decision found the Nidorf SYTF out of compliance with state regulations pertaining to staffing levels, training, use of force training, disciplin-
ary procedures and youth access to programs and recreation. Los Padrinos was found to have significantly more issues, with noncompliance found in staffing levels, fire safety plans, safety checks, room confinement procedures, use of force training, searches, education programs, youth access to programs and recreation and disciplinary procedures. During the meeting, county Probation Department Deputy Chief Kimberly Epps pleaded the agency’s case, insisting improvements had been made to address all of the board’s areas of concern, and claiming in some instances that the issue was one of documentation, rather than actual poor practices. She conceded, however, that there has been a long history of shortcomings by the agency, noting at one point that “we understand people are tired of seeing us” before the BSCC. “We know we are See Juvenile facilities Page 24
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bankrupt in credibility,” Epps said at another point, but she insisted that the department’s new leadership is committed to improvement and change. She asked the board to the delay the determinations of unsuitability and instead approve the creation of an “Operational Reconstruction Strike Team,” which would include BSCC officials and the county Probation Department “to assist in an extensive operational reconstruction of its juvenile hall compliance efforts.” BSCC board members, however, balked at that idea, saying that state agency’s staff is always available to assist the county, and insisting the BSCC should not be involved in the on-site management of the facilities. Not long after it opened last year, Los Padrinos was quickly plagued with problems. The facility experienced a pair of escapes, although both detainees
os Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Wednesday blasted as “baseless” a motion brought by a group of downtown business owners and residents demanding that the city face a nearly $6.4 million fine for its alleged lack of transparency and failure to reduce homeless encampments. “The city of Los Angeles brought thousands more unhoused Angelenos inside last year than the year before and we will continue that urgent work to save lives no matter what,” Bass said in a statement. “I do not have patience for anyone who stands in the way, and certainly not for those seeking to profit with baseless motions in court. Regardless of whether or not others choose to divert resources away from this work, we’re going to keep saving lives.” A March 4 hearing is set to discuss the motion filed last week in federal court by the LA Alliance for Human Rights. The motion alleges that the city has violated a 2022 settlement agreement between the association and the city calling for the housing of a minimum of 60% of people living on the streets in each of the city’s 15 council districts. “For more than a year, the city of Los Angeles has willfully and intentionally violated the settlement agreement in this case and failed to meet the milestones it set for itself,” according to the motion for compliance. LA Alliance attorneys say the city “obstructed efforts to establish critical encampment milestones and created far fewer beds than it promised to.” Bass said the Alliance filing comes after more than 21,000 Angelenos came inside last year, thousands more than the previous year, “thanks to urgent action locking arms with the City Council.” In the settlement agreement, the city set a milestone of 3,700 new beds for the unhoused in the last fiscal year — but created only 1,748 beds in that period, the motion contends. The LA Alliance also alleges that while the city committed to create a total of 5,190 beds by the end of 2023, it has created only 2,810 — falling 2,380 short. For 14 months, LA Alliance lawyers maintain, the city “has stalled, made excuses, and waffled in committing to encampment resolution metrics.” In a response filed Feb. 12, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto contends that the city “was in full compliance with its obligations under the Settlement Agreement and that the LA Alliance has suffered no actual damages as a result of any delay. On that basis alone, the motion should be summarily denied.” In a statement issued Wednesday, Soto said the lawsuit “unnecessarily distracts from the city’s efforts to address the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. As our response in court makes clear, the city is in full compliance with the Alliance agreement and is on track to continue to shelter an unprecedented number of unhoused individuals.” U.S. District Judge David Carter, who is presiding over the case and signed off on the city’s settlement two years ago and the county’s pact with the LA Alliance last year, See Homeless encampment Page 23