Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall reopens with 274 incarcerated youth

DOWNEY – More than 100 juvenile detainees were successfully transferred out of the troubled Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar to the renovated Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, completing a state-mandated transfer of all L.A. County pre-disposition detainees out of two facilities deemed unsuitable for housing, county officials said Wednesday.

The move of 106 pre-disposition youths -- those whose criminal cases have not yet been adjudicated -- out of Nidorf Hall was completed Tuesday, according to the county Probation Department. They joined roughly 170 youths who were transferred last week to Los Padrinos from Central Juvenile Hall in Lincoln Heights.

According to the county, a total of 274 youths are now housed at Los Padrinos.

The county had been facing a July 23 deadline set by the Board of State and Community Corrections to move all pre-disposition youths out of Nidorf and Central halls, both of which it determined to be unsuitable for housing youth detainees. The board cited a laundry list of ongoing violations of state standards at the facilities, including sanitary conditions of the housing units, detainees' access to school and other programs and staffing shortfalls.

Nidorf will continue to be home to a Security Youth Track Facility for post-disposition juvenile offenders. About 60 youth are being housed in that facility.

"We've gone from Mission Impossible to mission accomplished," Guillermo Viera Rosa, the county's interim probation chief, said in a statement. "The relocation of nearly 300 pre-disposition youth safely and in record time demonstrates what public servants across many LA County departments can do when everyone pulls together in the face of daunting odds."

Prior to the BSCC ruling ordering Nidorf and Central to be cleared out, the county Board of Supervisors on May 2 approved a plan to relocate all pre-disposition youths to Los Padrinos. Under that plan, Central Juvenile Hall will be used solely as an intake unit and a medical and diagnostic/assessment hub for youths, and only post-disposition Secure Youth Track Facility youths will be housed at Nidorf.

Construction and probation crews worked furiously over the previous two months to get Los Padrinos up to speed. Renovation work completed at Los Padrinos included new paint, new flooring, new furnishings, mattresses, fixtures, cameras, interior and exterior lighting upgrades, intercoms, plumbing and partitions for restroom privacy, according to the county.

Los Padrinos was originally opened in 1957. It includes 37 buildings, including 19 living units and nine dormitories, along with a kitchen, classrooms, recreation areas, library, infirmary, laundry, chapel, gym and pool.

Earlier this month, the BSCC officially notified the county that Los Padrinos had passed its pre-opening inspection, clearing it to house up to 317 pre-disposition youths. Probation officials said they plan to house no more than 275 to 300 youths at the 26-acre campus.