Los Angeles County leaders are once again scrambling to stem the flow of illicit drugs into the county’s troubled juvenile halls.
After nine people were rushed to the hospital last week following suspected drug exposure at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, county supervisors asked the probation department Tuesday to ramp up their contraband crackdown.
Supervisors voted 4-0 to have the department install “airport-style body scanners” in the two halls, improve the quality of their drug-sniffing dogs and try and cancel their contract with Student Nest, a Fresno-based tutoring company whose employee was recently charged with bringing 170 Xanax pills into Los Padrinos. Supervisor Holly Mitchell abstained from the vote.
“Probation doesn’t even allow our young people in Los Padrinos to hug their mothers out of fear that drugs or contraband is being passed in that manner,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn, who spearheaded the motion. “But drugs keep getting in.”
Hahn said the drug crisis inside Los Padrinos was “unlike any I’ve ever seen.” Young people, she says, are often high when she visits.
The hospitalizations last week included eight staff and one youth. A department spokesperson said there was one suspected overdose and the rest of the hospitalizations were due to “possible exposure to an unidentified substance.”
Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa told the board Tuesday that two of the people hospitalized had epileptic seizures and another had a “cardiac event.”
“It’s a moment of crisis and has been for some time,” said Viera Rosa.
Viera Rosa became interim chief in May of 2023, days after the fatal overdose of 18-year-old Bryan Diaz — the first death inside the county’s juvenile halls in over a decade.
Viera Rosa promised to clean up the rampant drug use inside the juvenile facilities run by the probation department, including the newly-reopened Los Padrinos, which currently houses roughly 300 incarcerated youth. Netting was installed around Los Padrinos to stop people from tossing drugs over the wall. A criminal investigations team was formed inside the department to hunt for the sources of the contraband. All employees must now go through security and carry their belongings in clear bags.
The chief, who is known to bristle at direction from the board, said some of the improvements Hahn asked for were already happening. An airport-style scanner had already been ordered. Money would be better spent, he suggested, on expanding money for drug rehabilitation services.
“If much of the motions are things that we’re already doing or underway, that’s not particularly helpful,” Viera Rosa said to the supervisors.
Hahn said her staff had been in touch with probation and felt the recommendations were the best path forward.
“We’re not trying to be annoying to you or intruding to you or in any way making your life worse,” Hahn said.
Some advocates felt the action by the supervisors was misguided, focusing on security rather than the root cases that led so many young people inside juvenile halls to use drugs — lack of programming and poor treatment options for anyone looking to kick their addiction.
“I urge you to go inside facilities and talk to young people about the lack of quality in the programming and the desire for something meaningful,” said Milinda Kakani, an outspoken member the Probation Oversight Commission, which serves as a watchdog for the department. “What kind of hell are we subjecting the young people to — that’s what we should be talking about. Everything else in this motion is a knee-jerk reaction.”
Others recommended the county tighten the consequences for the adults bringing in the drugs.
“We can not fail to acknowledge the main source of supply of narcotics into the facilities has been through adults who are staff or volunteers entering the facility,” said Sabrina Crayton, a policy advisor for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged Student Nest tutor Alejandro Lopez, 21, last week after he was allegedly found in possession of 170 pills believed to be Xanax at Los Padrinos. The district attorney also charged Orlando Cuevas, 18, with possessing Xanax for sale. Probation investigators said they observed Lopez hand Cuevas a bundle with the pills wrapped in electrical tape.
“Anyone who participates in smuggling narcotics into these facilities will be held accountable,” Dist.Atty. Nathan Hochman said in a statement.
Viera Rosa said the department had two tutoring contracts with Student Nest — one for roughly $500,000 and another for $800,000. Student Nest is also contracted with the county library system to provide tutoring at the libraries, according to county records.
“I don’t know how much you have overseen their so-called tutoring. … Kids are on YouTube. I’ve heard a lot of red flags about them,” Hahn told the probation chief. “We have to start sending a huge message to other contractors who come into our facilities that this is unacceptable.”
Chander Joshi, vice-president of Student Nest, said the tutoring company has been working with the probation department for nearly a decade. Typically, he says, they have anywhere between two and 15 tutors going into the halls. He declined to comment on the charges against his employee, citing personnel issues.
“They have a right to decide how they want to move forward with the contract,” said Joshi. “I understand this is not an ideal situation. We do a lot of great work.”
The crackdown comes as the county has once again found itself in the hot seat with state regulators. The Board of State and Community Corrections, a state oversight board, announced this week that Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall was still “unsuitable” to be used to confine youth because staff weren’t properly trained on use of force, among other issues.
Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is also considering placing L.A. County’s juvenile halls in receivership, which would effectively remove them from the county’s control. Bonta previously told The Times the Probation Department was headed toward the “end of the line.”
“That is a very big cloud over us all right now,” said Supervisor Hilda Solis.
