County supervisors advance overhaul of juvenile detention

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors moved forward Tuesday with a “Global Plan” for the placement and care of juvenile detainees, while also calling for a reduction in the number of juveniles in county custody and preparing for an influx of detainees from soon-to-close state facilities.

Many of the county’s juvenile detention facilities are in partial disuse, and nine are completely out of service. The current total number of inmates is 519.

After hearing more than two hours of public testimony Tuesday, the Board unanimously approved a series of motions aimed at re-envisioning the juvenile custody system by reducing the number of detainees in county facilities and shifting responsibility for their care away from the troubled Probation Department.

“These motions take the necessary action to offer young people the programs, support and timely release that are critical to their success,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement after the vote. “We are also taking steps to move authority from the Probation Department to the Department of Youth Development, which was created as a restorative justice hub entrusted with leading the care of young people in our justice system.”

The top priority will be to relieve the current crowding in Sylmar’s Barry Nidorf Juvenile Hall. Youth from the state’s Juvenile Justice facilities — which are being closed — are slated to be housed by July 1 in re-purposed and reconstructed county accommodations known as Secure Youth Treatment Facilities, under the authority of the county’s Department of Youth Development.

Created in July 2022, the DYD is intended to coordinate and build capacity for a wide range of youth development services.

So far, however, the county has designated only two SYTF sites. The first is at Nidorf Hall, but it is struggling, according to the Board motion, which states, “Nidorf is sorely lacking the components of a successful program.”

The second SYTF is in Camp Kilpatrick, in Malibu’s Encinal Canyon, and has been hailed as a more successful operation.