LA County Expands Support for Transition Age Youth and Tackles Jail Deaths

Supervisors Advance CalAIM Benefits for Transition Age Youth

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors May 13 approved a motion authored by chair pro tem and Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and Supervisor Janice Hahn to establish a framework to ensure every Transition Age Youth or TAY aging out of the county’s system has information and enrollment support regarding available healthcare options and benefits, including those through California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal or CalAIM.  

CalAIM, which provides beneficiaries with holistic care extending beyond the doctor’s office or hospital, includes statewide benefits such as Enhanced Care Management or ECM and Community Support or CS, and have helped address historic challenges faced by youth in foster care and TAY, such as care coordination. In June of 2024, the board passed a motion authored by chair pro tem Solis to ensure generational and life-long success for TAY, establishing a roadmap and a TAY Roundtable to address youth ages 16 to 24 who are not in school, training, working, or seeking employment. As a part of this approach, the county recognized these disconnected youth as more likely to be part of a generational poverty cycle, be unemployed or underemployed, experience housing insecurity and homelessness, and poor health.   

The TAY roundtable had its kick-off meeting last month to begin collaboration to address the holistic needs of transition age youth. This roundtable is bringing together stakeholders across multiple county departments and community partners to coordinate to meet the needs of TAY, as well as make recommendations to better serve these youth. One of their key recommendations is connecting TAY to health care plans, to help preserve access to care and resources even beyond the County network.  

The approved motion directs several county departments and offices, including the Departments of Public Health Services, Youth Development, Public Health, and even the County’s Youth Commission and LGBTQ+ Commission to include a presentation of considerations for TAY enrolling in a managed care plan in addition to the recommended framework.   

Details: here.  

Board of Supervisors Passes Hahn Motion in Response to Rising Deaths in LA County Jails

LOS ANGELES — In response to a disturbing rise in in-custody deaths within the Los Angeles County jail system, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors May 13 passed a motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn to initiate a multi-departmental comprehensive plan to address the crisis.

The county has seen one of the deadliest starts to a year in its jail system’s recent history. In the first 20 weeks of 2025 alone, 20 incarcerated individuals have died—more than double the number of deaths during the same period last year—including three in a single day.

“Our jails are in crisis,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “We have seen an alarming increase in deaths of people who are in our custody and in our care. We need to take urgent, decisive action to save lives. The aim of this motion is to make sure we understand what is driving this increase and that we address it at a systemic level.”

Deaths have continued to increase despite recent efforts to improve conditions—such as increased medical staffing, greater access to Narcan within jails, and a declining jail population.

The motion directs the Department of Health Services’ Correctional Health Services or CHS and requests the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department or LASD to deliver a comprehensive report within 90 days that includes:

An implementation plan with clear performance metrics to significantly reduce in-custody deaths;

An in-depth analysis of the causes and contributing factors behind the increase in deaths, along with recommendations to prevent future loss of life;

An assessment of how policy or budgetary decisions—such as Proposition 36 or federal cuts to health services—may affect inmate health outcomes.

Additionally, the motion directs the auditor-controller and CEO risk management, with support from CHS, LASD, and the medical examiner, to audit corrective action plans related to in-custody deaths from 2020 to the present and recommend further improvements.

Details: https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/202910.pdf