A week after learning that Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall must close, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has voted to hire a compliance officer to independently ensure the Probation Department is properly following state laws and court-ordered mandates from the California Department of Justice.

The motion by Supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey Horvath describes the position as a supporting role, similar to ones created to oversee the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s compliance with federal consent decrees involving the county’s jails. The new compliance officer, expected to be hired within 30 days, would answer directly to the county’s chief executive officer, rather than to the chief probation officer, according to the board’s motion.

“We need to do everything we can to ensure that our Probation Department comes into compliance with state standards at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall,” Hahn said in a statement. “We are on the clock now and it is necessary to have a dedicated compliance officer from outside the department who can oversee their work and has the ability to convene multiple departments who can help.”

The Board of State and Community Corrections, the regulatory body overseeing California’s jails and juvenile halls, declared Los Padrinos “unsuitable” for the confinement of youths on Oct. 14 and ordered the county to come back into compliance, or to empty the facility, by Dec. 12.

It’s the second time in a year that Los Padrinos has been declared unsuitable due to a persistent staffing shortage. The Probation Department narrowly managed to avoid closure in April by redeploying more than 100 officers from the field to stabilize the juvenile hall. That proved to be short lived and, by July, dozens of officers failed to show up daily and nearly 20% of the shifts at Los Padrinos were unable to meet staffing minimums.

Corrective plan late

This time, the department failed to request technical assistance from the BSCC prior to submitting a corrective action plan, which details how it would address the staffing crisis, according to Hahn and Horvath. The plan was turned in at the last minute. The BSCC rejected it the same day because it did not “adequately outline how the Department plans to correct” the issues, nor did it provide “reasonable timeframes for resolution of the staffing defiencies.”

Probation Department officials tried to submit a revised version two days later, but it was rejected outright because the deadline had passed.

The department, in an Oct. 15 statement expressing its disappointment, stated it has increased staffing levels at Los Padrinos by “actively recruiting new personnel, conducting training academies, reallocating officers from field assignments and utilizing overtime.”

“We are committed to transforming our juvenile institution into a safe and nurturing environment for the youth entrusted in our care while we endeavor to demonstrate unequivocally to the BSCC that we are meeting all statutory requirements,” the statement reads.

Under the new structure, the Probation Department would be required to submit “all current and future corrective action plan drafts and any related documents” to the compliance officer no later than 20 days before the due date. The Probation Department is expected to present its plans for addressing the potential closure of Los Padrinos at the Oversight Commission’s Nov. 14 meeting.