Wave Wire Service
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County’s Probation Department chief, who last week announced plans to retire by the end of the year, said Dec. 10 he now intends to stay on the job to address ongoing issues plaguing the agency’s juvenile detention facilities.
“We face significant challenges, but I believe we are building a strong foundation, and there is more to be done,” county Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa said in a statement. “I remain fully committed to working with my staff, partners, county and state leaders to ensure we turn the tide on challenges the department has faced.”
Los Angeles County issued a statement supporting Viera Rosa’s decision to stay on the job.
“Los Angeles County’s Probation Department faces long-running challenges that it is working diligently to address,” the county statement said. “Recognizing the importance of the work now underway, Los Angeles County is encouraged that Chief Probation Officer Guillermo Viera Rosa has decided to remain in his position and provide the leadership, skills and innovative approaches needed to turn the corner on significant issues, including meeting our continued commitment to achieving full compliance with the Board of State and Community Corrections.”
The development came just days ahead of a Dec. 12 deadline imposed by the Board of State and Community Corrections to correct persist substandard conditions and understaffing at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. As it has done in the past, the board recently deemed the facility unsuitable to house youth detainees, and it gave the county until Dec. 12 to correct deficiencies or move the youth out of the facility.
The county, however, has no alternative locations for housing them.
County probation officials are pushing the Board of State and Community Corrections staff to re-inspect the facility in hopes of winning reversal of the closure order. But a formal decision to rescind the unsuitability designation for the facility couldn’t be made until the board’s next meeting on Dec. 18.
There have been 66 probation officers in the department placed on leave since the beginning of the year for various issues relating to conduct on and off duty, the Los Angeles Times previously reported.
In February, the Board of State and Community Corrections stopped short of closing Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall and the Barry J. Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Facility in Sylmar.
The state board ruled that the two facilities were “unsuitable” to house youth detainees. Its decision found the Sylmar site to be out of compliance with regulations pertaining to staffing levels, training, use of force training, disciplinary procedures and youth access to programs and recreation.
Los Padrinos was found to have significantly more problems, with noncompliance found in staffing levels, fire safety plans, safety checks, room confinement procedures, use of force training, searches, education programs, youth access to programs and recreation and disciplinary procedures.
According to the department, of the 66 officers placed on leave, 39 were for issues of general misconduct, which includes suspected use of excessive force, child endangerment or abuse, possession of contraband, and negligent supervision, The Times reported. In addition, 18 were placed on leave for suspected sexual misconduct and nine for arrests unrelated to employment.
In October, the board found Viera Rosa was unable to solve the staffing crisis at Los Padrinos and that the facility was no longer safe for youths.
Los Padrinos houses pre-disposition youth detainees awaiting resolution of their court cases, while the Nidorf facility holds post-disposition youth offenders who have been convicted.
The county reopened Los Padrinos last year and transferred all pre-disposition youth to the facility, moving them away from Nidorf Hall in Sylmar and Central Juvenile Hall in Lincoln Heights, which were both declared unsuitable and ordered to close by the state corrections board.
At that time, the state board did not have jurisdiction over the Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Facility for post-disposition youth, but it was granted that authority by the state later in the year.
An attorney for the Board of Supervisors expressed concern about the youth who will be displaced if Los Padrinos closes.
“There is no effort at this time to make any sort of plan to relocate the young people detained in Los Padrinos,” said Angeles Zaragoza, an alternate public defender, at a Nov. 21 meeting. “I’m just at a loss to how we have gotten here.”
