Supervisors to Probation Chief: Consider Recommendations to Reduce Los Padrinos Population

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors May 6 approved a motion directing Chief Probation Officer Guillermo Viera Rosa to assess recommendations by the probation oversight commission to safely reduce the population of Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall.

On April 18, Judge Miguel Espinoza ordered the Los Angeles County Probation Department to submit a proposal and timeline to reduce the population of Los Padrinos until the facility can come into compliance with the Board of State and Community Corrections’ regulations.

The Probation Department has made it clear that moving youth to other facilities is the primary strategy they plan to deploy to comply with the Judge’s order. However, there is an opportunity to do more. The LA County probation oversight commission held a special meeting on April 24, where commissioners unanimously approved a broader set of recommendations to safely reduce the population of Los Padrinos. 

“The Probation Department is going to need to move youth from Los Padrinos to other Probation facilities, but that shouldn’t be the only strategy we rely on,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “Our Probation Oversight Commission has put forward thoughtful recommendations to reduce the number of young people coming into our custody and work with the Courts to identify youth who can and should be safely released with supportive programs or ankle monitors. Our Probation Department needs to consider all these strategies and if there are any they won’t pursue, they need to be transparent about why.”

The Probation Department’s depopulation plan projects that it will reduce incarceration at Los Padrinos from 278 to 175 youth, but during today’s meeting, Supervisor Hahn said she would like to see the population at Los Padrinos go down to fewer than 100.

“In the absence of a clear, transparent, and community-informed plan from our struggling Probation Department, we must rely on the leadership of the Probation Oversight Commission and the meaningful solutions they’ve developed in collaboration with County stakeholders and the public,” said Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath. “None of the options before us are perfect, but doing nothing—or simply moving forward with Probation’s inadequate proposal—is unacceptable. I fear we will replicate the same failures in new locations at a time when our youth are counting on us to provide the care and rehabilitation they deserve.”

Hahn and Horvath’s motion directs Chief Probation Officer Viera Rosa to assess the probation oversight’s recommendations to reduce the population at Los Padrinos in compliance with Judge Espinoza’s ruling and report back to the commission in writing or verbally at the May 8, 2025 meeting on his assessment including which recommendations are currently being implemented, which can be implemented in the future, and which the department does not plan to implement and why. 

The probation oversight commission’s recommendations that the Probation Department will assess are:

1. Reassessing youth who are currently detained to see if they can be returned to court for potential release with supportive services and/or ankle monitoring
2. Sending youth who have already been sentenced to their court-ordered placements within 24-48 hours
3. Slowing the influx of youth to Los Padrinos by reforming the intake detention and control division
4. Moving girls and gender-expansive youth awaiting sentencing from Los Padrinos to Dorothy Kirby Center
5. Recommitting to reducing incarceration of girls and gender-expansive youth
6. Moving lower-risk boys awaiting sentencing to Probation camp facilities
7. Evaluating the youth who are currently sentenced to the secure youth treatment facility to see if any are eligible for step down programs or the State’s Pine Grove Fire Camp

Details: Read the details of the probation oversight commission’s recommendations here: https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/POC25-0062.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=