On Tuesday, April 1, four of the five Los Angeles County Supervisors expressed their displeasure with the LA County Probation Department with a motion directing the department to be more transparent and involve the board, other county departments, and the community in its plans for “dramatic changes” to the juvenile halls and camps.
Over the last two months, Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa has faced criticism from all sides after presenting a board-ordered “Global Plan” to move incarcerated youth between the county’s juvenile facilities. The county supervisors ordered the development of the plan to address an influx of kids from the state’s youth prison system, as well as systemic problems and unacceptable care of youth who were already in the county’s facilities.
Chronically abysmal care
As WLA has reported for years, the county’s youth probation system has consistently failed the kids in its custody. There are critical staffing issues, despite budget increases. On multiple occasions, LA’s juvenile halls have been declared “unsuitable” for youth altogether. Incarcerated teens have experienced sexual assault and drug overdoses, as well as physical violence.
One month ago, on March 3, 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the unsealing of a grand jury indictment against 30 detention services officers from Los Padrinos who are accused of facilitating and encouraging dozens of gladiator-style fights between kids at the juvenile hall during the second half of 2023.
In the meantime, the county is supposed to be implementing a “care first, jails last” approach to the youth and adult justice systems.
The motion, written by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn with an amendment by Supervisor Hilda Solis, very candidly addressed the department’s “difficult history of failures and crisis,” and direct refusal to follow directions from the board.
“This Board previously directed Probation to stop using OC spray on young persons in custody. They have not done so,” the supervisors wrote. “This Board also directed Probation to require that all custodial staff carry Narcan while working in the facilities. Probation treated that directive as though it were voluntary. Probation has been directed to decarcerate girls and gender-expansive youth. They have not done that. Indeed, in its February 18 presentation, probation also failed to mention gender expansive and LGBTQ+ youth.”
The supervisors pointed out that Chief Viera Rosa told them during the same February board meeting that he didn’t think his Global Plan required board approval. Yet, language in the original 2023 motion indicated otherwise.
The Global Plan
Under the probation department’s Global Plan presentation in February, all pre-disposition boys (approximately 250 kids) would be held at Los Padrinos. Boys with high mental health needs would move to the Dorothy Kirby Center, which currently houses girls. All girls and gender-expansive youth held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall and the Dorothy Kirby Center would be moved to Campus Kilpatrick. Those boys currently at Kilpatrick would be sent to the dangerous Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall.
According to Viera Rosa, this relocation plan would reduce the population at Los Padrinos, and help bring probation into compliance with the Board of State and Community Corrections, which declared the juvenile hall unsuitable for the 260 youth in residence in October 2024. The plan would also “consolidate young people with like needs,” Viera Rosa said, and make it easier for probation to provide kids with better care, services, and programs. Yet details on how the shuffle would translate to improved care were lacking, and community groups and the county supervisors were alarmed that the plan didn’t include input from other county departments, service providers, the courts, the board of supervisors, or the community.
From that feedback, Viera Rosa has started meeting with other county departments and has plans to create working groups for the Global Plan for each juvenile hall and camp.
On April 1, the supervisors voted 4-1, with a no vote from Supervisor Kathryn Barger, to direct Probation to take transparency and collaboration a step further. The motion requires Viera Rosa to get board approval for any changes to or implementation of the facilities plans, especially any updates that require material changes to the camps and halls, and updates that would change the type of population housed at a particular facility.
The board directed the probation department to expedite the full closure of Central Juvenile Hall, and to move healthcare services to Los Padrinos.
Probation must also collaborate with and establish working groups with other relevant county departments and create a community engagement process before submitting another Global Plan update to the supervisors.
A number of community members and advocates thanked the supervisors for authoring the motion, and urged its passage.
One such speaker, M.J. Vides, a senior program associate at the Vera Institute of Justice, called out the probation department for the continued incarceration of girls and gender-expansive youth, against the board’s direction, and its plans to shuffle youth around in a way that would be especially bad for those two groups of kids.
“In 2018 and again in 2023, this board passed motions requiring the Probation Department to decarcerate all girls and gender expansive youth in custody, yet their plan does not include a strategy to reduce or end incarceration. “It moves youth from one facility to another,” Vides said. “The plan also fails to address the unique needs of LGBTQ and pregnant youth and was not developed with community stakeholders. Relocating them to Camp Kilpatrick is out of step with evidence-based best practices, it strains county resources and also harms our youth.”
Vides also urged the board to pass a motion by Supervisor Janice Hahn to direct the Justice Care and Opportunities Department to explore how the county might provide court reminders and transportation services for youth impacted by the juvenile system.
The system has been broken since 2001, and I’m sure before that date. However I know first hand it was broken in 2001, 2002. Due to the fact my son was incarcerated then. Horrible treatment and rehabilitation was zero factor. While in the juvenile system the juveniles rarely saw the light of day except what came through the dingy dirty windows. Sunshine on their face or any outdoor activities none. School was not an option due to the gang activity. Heck they were not even given nutrients to have full bellies. When I think about those months it breaks my heart. My son was abused by the juvenile system, the probation department, the juvenile court system,and so were many others. Child abuse and know one cares.