Citing repeated operational failures at Los Padrinos and Barry J. Nidorf juvenile halls, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday his office will move to establish a receivership for Los Angeles County’s troubled juvenile detention system.
At a downtown Los Angeles news conference, Bonta pointed to ongoing issues with the county’s management of the juvenile halls, citing youth-on-youth violence at Los Padrinos in Downey and drug overdoses in the facility. Bonta called the issues “system failures … that put lives at risk.”
Bonta said he plans to file a court petition seeking to have a receiver pointed to oversee operation of the juvenile halls.
The proposal was met with quick support from county Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes Los Padrinos.
“We have spent years trying to improve conditions, exhausted every tool at the County level, and still, we are failing these young people,” Hahn said in a statement. `I stand ready to do everything I can to help receivership succeed and I urge our county leadership, our Chief Probation Officer, and our county lawyers to stay at the table to shape a process that helps ensure the kids who are not only in our custody but are in our care get the help and support they need.”