The Los Padrinos youth prison in the city of Downey and the Barry J. Nidorf Secure Treatment Center for Youth facilities in Sylmar were again authorized to continue operating, while a video was publicly released showing six teenagers continuously beating a young Latino man, which is why eight probation officers were removed from their employment on administrative leave for witnessing the events and doing nothing to prevent the beating.
The decision made by the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) has been criticized by criminal lawyers and adolescent rights advocates.
“They have to close these juvenile prisons, they must be closed and then have structural changes,” declared lawyer Michael Carrillo. provide them with structural changes. “The entire probation program should go away, because it doesn’t matter if they are five, six or even 17 years old, they are still children who are growing up with the belief that violence is normal inside and outside of prison.”
“They should be taught so that they learn to control their feelings and emotions in any situation in life, because, otherwise, they will leave juvenile prisons to end up in adult prisons,” he added.
In Los Padrinos, an average of 330 to 400 minors ages eight to 18 are in the temporary custody of the Los Angeles County Probation Department.
With the capacity to house up to 188 offenders, the Barry J. Nidorf facility in Sylmar serves as a temporary incarceration center for people serving short sentences and is administered by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department – Altadena Station.
“Adequate” prison facilities
Both facilities were deemed “adequate” to house youth, according to the decision of the California State Board of Community Corrections (BSCC), which had threatened potential closure due to underlying problems such as failures in periodic reviews, security checks, programming and access to bathrooms. Inmates had to urinate in their own cells.
In this way, they overturned a previous ruling of “inadequate” conditions for juvenile inmates, and had found that the Barry J. Nidorf Correctional Facility did not comply with state regulations related to staffing levels, training and training of staff in the use of force, disciplinary procedures and youth access to programs and recreation.
Additionally, in May 2023, Bryan Diaz, 18, died of an apparent drug overdose at the Barry J. Nidorf facility in Sylmar. This death occurred a month after a report from the Office of the Inspector General, Max Huntsman, that detailed at least three cases of overdoses in 2023.
At Los Padrinos, BSCC authorities had discovered problems related to non-compliance with the level of necessary personnel, lack of fire safety plans, security controls, confinement procedure room, training in the use of force, records, programs educational programs, youth access to recreational programs, and disciplinary procedures.
Due to operational changes, jail facilities will remain open. They were scheduled to close April 16, although county officials had no contingency plan in place if the previous “inadequate facilities” ruling had continued.
‘There is much to do’
Guillermo Viera Rosa, head of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, expressed pleasure that the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) has voted to consider the Barry J. Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Center and the Los Padrinos Juvenile Center Los Angeles County “are adequate by state standards.”
“Under the direction of the Board of Supervisors, the Probation Department has made great strides in addressing facility deficiencies by increasing and stabilizing staffing levels, providing hundreds of hours of additional training, and working closely with BSCC staff to reinforce procedures and protocols,” declared Viera Rosa, in a statement.
“While the BSCC’s decision marks a milestone in that effort, we take note of current concerns and recognize that there is still much to be done,” Viera Rosa said. “The county remains fully committed to transforming its juvenile justice facilities into the safest and most welcoming environments possible for the youth committed to our care.”
Are they creating criminals in The Godfathers?
Helen Chávez, spokesperson for Supervisor Kathryn Barger, told La Opinión that the new director of Los Padrinos, Guillermo Viera Rosa, has dedicated “a lot of effort” to improving facilities in the city of Downey and training staff.
“It is a difficult situation because there are many parties involved, from the union, staff members who have to work and are absent due to medical exemptions, call in sick or do not show up, while others work overtime and get tired or get sick.”
Instead of helping young people to regenerate, are they creating criminals in The Godfathers? he was asked.
“That’s right, and Supervisor Barger supports the reforms [en Los Padrinos]”said Helen Chavez. “Due to different studies there has been a change, where society and those in charge of this type of work are aware that the psychological condition of these young people needs to be improved. It’s no longer just the old model of just punishing,” she said. “Before, if a crime was committed, it was punished, applying the old-fashioned model for the elderly and their freedom was taken away; Now there is a social and moral level of retraining and rehabilitating in every physical condition, but more important is the mental health condition.”
Problems and escapes… Do you bet on fights?
After its reopening in 2023, Los Padrinos was plagued with problems, including a pair of leaks: on July 28, when a group of seven youths attacked staff members, breaking a door in the living area, then a window to release six more minors. The oldest of the group then scaled the wall and escaped to a golf course adjacent to the facility.
Later, on November 4, six minors attacked a staff member, took his keys and one of them scaled a wall. He was arrested 10 minutes later by Downey and South Gate police officers.
In January of this year, eight probation officers were placed on administrative leave for standing by and doing nothing while a group of youths beat a Latino teenager on the morning of December 22, 2023.
In addition to the fact that members of the community declared in February to BSCC directors that the agents themselves organized “gladiator fights,” the video published this week by the Los Angeles Times shows the impassiveness of the officers to avoid the beating. .
“You see them enjoying it as if it were a fight club,” said attorney Michael Carrillo. “I think they were even betting on who would win the fight.”
Probation agent Taneha Brooks reported that she was the only one present when two different gangs started the fight. The video totally contradicts her report.
As the attack on the Latino teenager continues and he falls to the ground, a second probation officer shakes hands with one of the attackers and smiles. He was identified in Los Angeles Superior Court as Shawn Smyles. All of the attackers were African-American.
According to public defender Sherrie Albin, Brooks “instigated” the beating of the Latino teenager [que sufrió fractura de nariz] by telling the African-American attackers that the Latino teenager was a racist and belonged to the “Canoga” gang [del Valle de San Fernando]”.
The damage it causes to young people
Days before the decision to keep the Padrinos facilities in Downey and Barry J. Nidorf in Sylmar open, Sean Garcia-Leys, a civil rights attorney and co-executive director of the Justice and Peace Legal Center, sent a letter to Linda Penner , president of the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSSC).
“The illegal confinement of youth in inadequate facilities in Los Angeles must end,” he says in the letter.
“The Department’s claims of adequacy are an attempt to continue to avoid accountability, without regard for the harm it causes to young people,” he added. “Los Padrinos has never passed an inspection since its reopening.” [en julio de 2023]”.
García-Leys indicated that, before their reopening, the Department’s two other juvenile centers[Barry J. Nidorf Hall and Los Padrinos]had not passed inspections and were declared inadequate. [BarryJNidorfHallyLosPadrinosnohabíanpasadolasinspeccionesyfuerondeclaradosinadecuados
“Years have passed in which the youth of Los Angeles have been confined in inadequate facilities, navigating unsafe and violent environments, urinating in their rooms and languishing without activities,” the lawyer maintained.
“Thousands of young people have now been subjected to these conditions,” he added. “Some of these young people have suffered these conditions for years while their charges are still pending.”
“The BSCC must not allow the Los Angeles Probation Department to continue this shameful practice; “must reject the Los Angeles Probation Department’s patently false and cynical claim that Los Padrinos Youth Center is now suitable for juvenile confinement and allow real change to finally come to Los Angeles youth facilities.”
The decision, however, in the end was to keep both facilities open.