L.A. County agreed to bestow new powers on its beleaguered probation chief, giving him temporary authority to redirect some of the county’s workforce as the agency defies a state order to shut down Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey over lack of staffing.
The supervisors voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to declare a “local emergency” over the looming closure of Los Padrinos, arguing that the extreme step was warranted to prevent being forced to release all young people incarcerated at the facility “onto the streets,” including those accused of violent crimes.
County officials say the emergency proclamation will allow them to throw new resources at a perennial staffing crisis that has gone unsolved for years. The plan, crafted by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis, will allow Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa to reassign staff from across the county’s massive workforce — all of whom become “disaster service workers” in emergencies — and have them assist the agency.
“Decisive action needs to be taken now,” Barger said at a Tuesday news conference. “The Probation Department has a large group of staff who are simply not showing up for work.”
The emergency declaration comes days after the county flouted a demand by the state to shut down Los Padrinos after inspectors repeatedly found the hall was dangerously short-staffed, with hundreds of workers out on medical leave or calling out due to dangerous conditions.
Vicky Waters, a Probation Department spokesperson, said the emergency order does not mean employees from the L.A. County Library will suddenly find themselves doing the work of a peace officer.
Rather, Viera Rosa will have authority over staff from other county departments that frequently send employees into the halls for non-security purposes, such as teachers from the county’s Department of Education or mental health professionals from the Department of Mental Health.
“We need staff, but it’s not just probation officers,” said Waters.
Viera Rosa estimated an average of 14% of Los Padrinos staffers are calling out per shift, with the numbers higher near the weekend.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” Viera Rosa said. “The less staff you have, the less you’re able to do, the less safe folks feel. … The entire model breaks down.”
The county will also start offering bonuses of up to $24,000 for employees who transfer from other agencies and will form a task force to figure out how to lure employees on leave back to work, according to the motion.
Fesia Davenport, the county’s chief executive officer, said that roughly 700 probation employees are out for medical leave, including some, she suggested, who should not be.
“We are going to be working with our departments to really go through each of those [medical] notes with a fine-toothed comb,” Davenport said.
The plan was met with skepticism among both advocates for incarcerated youths and some on the board, who appeared doubtful the motion would have the intended effect.
“Today’s motion doesn’t unlock new authorities that the chief of probation doesn’t already have — especially over probation staff,” said Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who cast the only vote against the plan.
“How about everybody show up for work?” Supervisor Holly Mitchell echoed.
Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes the hall in Downey, said she respected the independence of other department heads and was “unsure about what giving our chief probation officer decision-making authority over their departments will mean.”
This month, Viera Rosa, who has been with the county less than a year and a half, told the board in a brief memo that he planned to retire at the end of the year. A week later, he changed his mind and announced his intention to stay. He has irked some on the board by failing to show up to public meetings and private meetings with his bosses, according to multiple sources who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation.
Horvath and Hahn made an amendment to the motion Tuesday that will require Viera Rosa to be on site at Los Padrinos at least once per week and attend the meetings by the Probation Oversight Commission and the Board of Supervisors where his presence was requested.
“We need to be informed,” Hahn said.
She also called for releasing youths with ankle monitors who “do not pose a threat,” such as those facing charges of vandalism or shoplifting.
Waters, the probation spokesperson, said one-third of the youths incarcerated at Los Padrinos — 80 out of about 240 — are facing charges of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter. Los Padrinos houses youths whose cases have not yet been adjudicated.
The union representing deputy probation officers did not directly respond to supervisors’ allegations that some in their ranks were improperly on medical leave, but said they supported the emergency order and believed Los Padrinos needed to be kept open.
Advocates for the closure of Los Padrinos argue that the county is severely downplaying the findings of the state oversight board and fearmongering over the danger of what could happen if the youths inside are released.
After the county repeatedly failed to get a handle on the agency’s staffing crisis, the California Board of State and Community Corrections, which inspects juvenile halls, set a deadline of Dec. 12 for them to vacate Los Padrinos. The county refused, arguing that the staffing was “compliant with state regulations.”
“This motion is factually, legally and intellectually dishonest,” said Brooke Harris, executive director of the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center and a member of the Probation Oversight Commission. “Blaming this on the BSCC — whose job it is to inspect juvenile facilities all over the state — and on the youth in the care of this county is an overt attempt to escape legal responsibilities for these appalling failures.”
Araya Blakely, who works as mentor in Los Padrinos, said the issues extend far beyond the occasional staffing hiccup.
“We see the conditions firsthand,” said Blakely. “This motion is a gross attempt at displacing blame so business can continue as usual — meanwhile, kids are suffering.”
The county said it has appealed the decision with the state oversight board, which in turn said it was the first time it had received an appeal in its 13-year history.
The refusal to vacate has put the county in untested legal waters. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Miguel Espinoza ordered the Probation Department to appear in court Monday to argue why the hall should not be closed down. The L.A. public defender’s office has said the agency will ask the courts to remove its clients from Los Padrinos in light of the shutdown order.
“What’s happening to our youth is an emergency,” Public Defender Ricardo Garcia said in a statement. “Our youth should not be in unsafe conditions, and they should be placed in suitable, supportive environments immediately.”
Davenport said county officials believed they did not need to vacate the hall while their appeal was pending.
“I take issue with the word ‘illegal’ because it assumes that this is a crime —this is a civil administrative process,” said Davenport. “While we are filing an appeal, it gives us an opportunity to continue to operate Los Padrinos until our appeal has been finally decided.”
The refusal to comply with the state order adds to a mountain of legal liability piling up for the department. The agency is under scrutiny by the California Department of Justice and facing thousands of lawsuits estimated to cost up to $3 billion stemming from sexual assault cases at probation facilities and shelters for children.
On Tuesday, the county agreed to a $30-million settlement for a federal class-action lawsuit filed in 2022 alleging inhumane conditions at the county’s two old halls — Central Juvenile Hall and Barry J. Nidorf — which the county was forced to close last year after similar issues with staffing.
The suit alleges youths were forced to “relieve themselves” in bottles and milk cartons and were stuck in “filthy and unsanitary” conditions, infested with cockroaches. There are also alleged instances of youths being forced to defecate in their cells. Agustin Herrera, the lead plaintiff, had his arm twisted by a staff member, who then tried to bribe him with a hamburger so he wouldn’t file a grievance, according to the suit.
Scott Rapkin, one of the attorneys on the case, said anyone who was in any of the county’s juvenile camps and halls after 2014 — about 9,000 people — is entitled to a chunk of the settlement.
“It’s a good-sized settlement and it’s going to provide some important justice to the thousands of young people that really lived in these horrific conditions and suffered from all kinds of abuse and excessive pepper spray and unnecessary shackling and illegal solitary confinement,” he said. “This is going to make a good difference to a lot of people.”
Rapkin said he had been hopeful that cutting a check in the tens of millions was going to force the county to change its management of the halls — though the recent chaos at Los Padrinos had thrown that into question.
“It’s the same sort of underlying issues,” he said of the problems facing Los Padrinos today. “It’s a shame that the Probation Department can’t get its act together.”