Despite hours of public opposition testimony calling the action racist and a failure to demand accountability, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency Tuesday over the troubled Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, instructing its attorneys and staff to pursue all remedies to keep the facility open in defiance of a state closure order.
The proclamation introduced by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis also calls for a series of actions aimed at bolstering staffing at the facility, contending that personnel shortages are at the root of the hall’s deficiencies.
The emergency declaration originally called for county attorneys to take all actions necessary to prevent detained youth from being released from the facility due to the state’s closure order. But it was amended to instruct the Probation Department to examine alternative detention options for youth detainees accused of lesser, non-violent offenses — including release to community-based step-down facilities or to their homes with appropriate monitoring.