Youths in L.A. County juvenile halls are facing adverse mental health effects from increased violence and the department’s practice of isolating them to control the chaos.
The desperation pervading Los Angeles County’s juvenile halls can be distilled into a single incident and its aftermath.
Between 30 and 50 officers are calling out per shift, according to a letter Gonzales wrote to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in September. The situation is so desperate that the department in October began offering increased base and overtime pay for any officer who simply shows up for work. They blame the increased use of isolation in recent months. Lawyers say some teens are taking plea deals against their advice just to get out of the halls.
When a juvenile hall is locked down, youths are isolated in their rooms and denied access to schooling and recreation, sometimes for as long as 24 hours. The use of lockdowns has become increasingly common this year due to the staffing crisis, those officials said.“Somebody is going to die. I promise you that,” said a veteran supervisor at Central Juvenile Hall, foreground. In the background, downtown Los Angeles.
Attacks on officers and fights among youths have also increased dramatically. As of Oct. 9, the number of assaults on staff in the halls was already higher this year than the total alleged in all of 2021, according to probation department data. There had been 1,268 fights in the halls as of Oct. 9 this year, compared to 794 in all of 2021, a spike of 60%, records show.An earlier version of this article referred to Chief Deputy Probation Officer Karen Fletcher as deputy probation officer.
But those who work in the halls don’t want to hear about a long-term plan. They say they are facing a crisis now. In July, an inspector general report noted that use-of-force incidents were not being properly recorded on camera inside Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, and some officers were failing to submit reports on use-of-force incidents in a timely manner.A veteran Central supervisor said discussions were held about moving the kids in waves one week before the actual transfer. But those plans never materialized.
Angered and unsettled by the transfer, youths hurled fire extinguishers, smashed windows and brawled in a large communal area called a day room, officers told The Times. Urine was splashed in at least one officer’s face, and another suffered a facial fracture, the supervisors said.Parents showed up at Central to visit their kids only to find they weren’t there, according to several officers and a statement released by L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis.
While Central is older, the two halls’ basic layouts are similar. Each is broken up into units that house youths by age range in dormitory-style settings. Some youths also are held in “specialized units” if they have disabilities or require “enhanced supervision,” based on the crimes they have been accused of.
“Some of them are just quitting outright. They’re saying: ‘I’m not going to get assaulted every day,’” the Central supervisor said. “I got a buddy of mine ... after [the transfer] he got punched in the face. His nose was bleeding. He went out on injury for a while, and I got a text that he quit.”found L.A. County’s juvenile halls “unsuitable” to house youths
By late July, Nidorf Hall erupted in another spasm of violence. A fight involving 17 youths left windows shattered, door locks broken and at least nine people hurt, according to a a probation department spokeswoman and a memo Gonzales wrote to the Board of Supervisors. “Desperate need for staff at [Central Juvenile Hall],” she wrote in a text exchange with other probation officials reviewed by The Times. “Any volunteers would be great.”
Sam Lewis, executive director of the nonprofit Anti-Recidivism Coalition and a member of the L.A. County Probation Oversight Commission, said young people thrive when they can develop relationships with probation officers and get on a consistent routine. That has been impossible during the staffing crisis, Lewis said.“When I say the youth want consistency, that’s not Sam’s words. That’s what the kids say: ‘We want people that come in here and know what our program is,’” Lewis said.
“It’s this cycle where young people are essentially trapped, they have nothing to work toward,” she said. “You’re just left to kind of wallow. You’re left to fester. You’re left behind.”
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