More than a month after the state ordered Los Angeles County’s only juvenile hall closed due to thin staffing, a judge has again spared the troubled facility from immediate closure. .
Superior Court Judge Miguel Espinoza punted a decision on whether to close Los Padrino’s juvenile hall.
All youth at the Downey facility have pending cases, including those related to murder and other violent crimes. The public defender’s office had proposed moving the youth to a county “camp.” This is considered more stable than the afflicted hole, but is usually reserved for young people whose cases have been adjudicated.
“You’re asking the court to jump off a cliff and have experiments performed on these children,” Espinoza said during Friday’s court hearing.
The state oversight board ordered the hall to close by Dec. 12. Regulators repeatedly found there were not enough staff, exposing young people inside to unsafe conditions and uneven access to classes, medical appointments and outdoor activities. Staff from the Los Angeles County Probation Department, which runs the facility, say they don’t feel safe going to work, adding to the dangerous conditions.
Most of the youth are between the ages of 15 and 18, but some are younger. There are nine 13-year-olds currently incarcerated. That’s according to figures provided by the agency’s county watchdog, the Probation Oversight Board.
The county has made clear it has no intention of closing the facility, arguing it would increase disruption and do little to address staffing issues at the root of the problem. According to legal filings, after similar issues arose with Staffing and neighboring counties “uniformly declining” to house youth in Los Padrino, the state decided to Two halls have been closed.
The public defender’s office has put the matter before a judge, arguing that the county is currently holding its client in violation of state law.
“We’re dealing with kids, we don’t care what they’ve done,” Luis Rodriguez, chief of the juvenile division of the L.A. County Public Defender’s Office, told the judge Friday.
Frank Santoro of the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office argued that the Probation Department is making necessary improvements and that it would be reckless to release the youths inside.
“No one should be released from juvenile hall,” he told the judge. “They’re doing the best they can.”
Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa did not attend the hearing. His second-in-command, Kimberly Epps, said he has made progress in recent days making inroads into improving staffing.
That’s not enough, Rodriguez argued in the Office of the Public Defender.
“I’m asking the court: please call it,” he said. “Don’t kick the can.”
The hearing continued until February 14th.
