After state regulators found two L.A. County juvenile halls in Sylmar and Lincoln Heights “unsuitable,” the probation department is working to quickly move some 275 youths to a different facility in Downey. And it has less than 60 days.
Margarita Perez, assistant chief probation officer, said during a presentation last week that consolidating the Barry J. Nidorf and Central Juvenile Halls into Los Padrinos in Downey will help address staffing, access to treatment and other issues.
Los Padrinos was shut down in 2019 due to security, staffing and other issues.
Emilio Zapién with the nonprofit Youth Justice Coalition said families who contact his group are concerned about the move.
"'[The families are saying:] 'This place has been ... shut down for a while, how do we know that those conditions are going to be better?,’” Zapién said.
“They are concerned about their children's health. Especially after hearing about the tragic passing of Bryan Diaz, that was totally avoidable and unfortunately predictable,” he added.
Earlier this month, 18-year-old Bryan Diaz died of an apparent drug overdose at the Nidorf facility in Sylmar.
The Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) found that the Nidorf and Central facilities continue to be noncompliant on regular searches, programming, safety checks and several other requirements.
According to a report from the BSCC, some youths reported that they were not let out of their rooms at night and had to “urinate in a receptacle.”
The probation department said one of the reasons for the move is so that young people in the facility will have easier access to bathrooms. Los Padrinos, the department said, has 158 rooms with a toilet and sink, which is significantly more than Nidorf.
Sheila Williams, deputy director of administrative services at the probation department, told LAist that construction crews will work to complete roof repairs, painting, HVAC maintenance as well as working to get a security camera system up and running at Los Padrinos.
Many of the concerns voiced in the BSCC report and from board members, however, have been less centered on the facility and more on staffing shortages.
“The most serious items of noncompliance at the juvenile halls are directly linked to issues with staffing,” the BSCC report reads. The report also states that dozens of staff members have reported working 24 hours straight at the facilities.
At the BSCC hearing last week, board member and Anti-Recidivism Coalition founder Scott Budnick noted that 96% of staff called out on Mother’s Day.
“Because we don’t have the staffing, just this Sunday we couldn’t get the kids out to programs,” Budnick said.
Budnick added that Bryan Diaz was his mentee and “an incredible young man ... on a real path of change.”
Pointing out the staffing issues facing the department, Budnick added: “We have to get this right or there’s going to be another Bryan Diaz. There could be another Bryan Diaz any day now ... There’s nothing stopping it until we can get the right people to work.”
Citing a staffing shortage “emergency,” Interim Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa said last week he would immediately require some 3,000 sworn peace officers within the L.A. County Probation Department to work at least one shift a month in the juvenile halls.
