AG Bonta Wants Los Angeles County Juvenile Halls Under Receivership

Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Wednesday that he is asking the Los Angeles County Superior Court to place Los Angeles County’s juvenile halls into a receivership following the County’s repeated failure to adhere to a 2021 settlement because of mismanagement and unsafe conditions.

“Today, for the first time in my office’s history, we are asking a court to place the subject of a pattern-and-practice investigation into receivership. This drastic step to divest Los Angeles County of control over its juvenile halls is a last resort — and the only option left to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the youth currently in its care,” said Bonta in a statement. “For four-and-a-half years, we’ve moved aggressively to bring the County into compliance with our judgment — and we’ve been met with glacial progress that has too often looked like one step forward and two steps back. Enough is enough. These young people deserve better, and my office will not stop until they get it. A receivership is the best and only option to turn Los Angeles County juvenile halls around, and we believe the court will agree.”

The decision dates back to 2021 when a California Department of Justice investigation found “serious deficiencies regarding the treatment and conditions of confinement of youth in juvenile detention in the county, as well as concerns regarding the inadequate provision of education services to justice-involved youth.” As a direct result, the County of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Office of Education agreed to take a wide range of corrective actions, to be overseen by an independent monitor. According to the State DOJ, these were the agreed upon corrective actions, all under 4-year plans:

• Homelike environment and operations, ensuring youth are housed in warm, homelike living units;
• Technology and data management, facilitating data collection and analysis required to demonstrate compliance with the settlements and allow for adequate ongoing internal review;
• Use of force and youth safety, limiting use of force, as well as requiring de-escalation and outside oversight and review of incidents;
• Trauma-informed and positive behavior approaches, enhancing holistic efforts to support youth;
• Room confinement, improving practices and safeguards to ensure youth are not unlawfully confined to their rooms;
• Basic living needs and juvenile hall conditions, including the provision of necessities such as hygiene items, bedding, and access to the bathroom;
• Programming, recreation, exercise, religious services, visitation, and telephone calls, ensuring and documenting that youth have access to legally required programs;
• Mental health, medical care, and treatment plans, ensuring timely medical and mental healthcare;
• Education, transition, and after-care, ensuring youth are provided appropriate education time and improving the process for transitioning youth back to school in the community;
• Staffing, hiring, and training, requiring sufficient staffing and training to comply with the settlements;
• Oversight and grievance systems, providing a trustworthy avenue for youth to get problems addressed; and
• Compensatory services for youth, helping fill the gap for youth who were improperly denied education during their detention.

However, according to Bonta, the Juvenile halls failed to meet these standards despite being given  four and a half years instead of just 4. Reports found that LA County remains out of compliance with 75% of the provisions of the judgment. In addition, conditions at Los Angeles County juvenile halls have deteriorated, with the state DOJ specifically noting inadequate staffing of the juvenile halls, failure to stop the flow of drugs into the halls, failure to stop staff from starting fights between the youths there, failure to bring youths to medical appointments, retaliation against those who file complaints, and the lack of cameras going up in all areas of the facilities.

A state receivership request

“Several particularly egregious incidents highlight the untenable and unsafe conditions at these facilities,” added Bonta’s office. “First, in March 2025, Attorney General Bonta secured a grand jury indictment of 30 probation staff for child endangerment and abuse, battery, and conspiracy for permitting, facilitating, and encouraging 69 fights involving 143 different victims between July 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023. Second, a number of overdoses have occurred at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in 2025, despite a court order mandating the County improve its contraband-screening protocols. At the same time, the Board of State and Community Corrections has issued findings of unsuitably for both Los Padrinos and Barry J. Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Facility, and the juvenile division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court has ordered the County to depopulate Los Padrinos.”

This led to Bonta filing State of California v. Los Angeles County with the L.A. County Superior Court on Wednesday, making good on threats to get a receivership in place Bonta had been making since at least May. He is asking the court to place Los Angeles County juvenile halls in a receivership, with a court-appointed receiver asking over all County-related authority and power. In addition, Bonta wants a court order for the County to establish a compensation fund for youth to redress and repair the injuries suffered in the County’s custody due to its noncompliance with the judgment, including medical and education expenses.

Some L.A. County officials have backed up Bonta’s receivership filing, including L.A. County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey Horvath.

“We have spent years trying to improve conditions, exhausted every tool at the County level, and still, we are failing these young people,” added Hahn on Wednesday. “I stand ready to do everything I can to help receivership succeed, and I urge our county leadership, our Chief Probation Officer, and our county lawyers to stay at the table to shape a process that helps ensure the kids who are not only in our custody but are in our care get the help and support they need.”

Even probation officer union officials, usually opposed to such extreme measures, agreed.

“For years, the Board of Supervisors has ignored our warnings and failed to invest in the sworn officers who serve on the front lines,” explained president of the union for deputy probation officers Stacy Ford. “The result has been a manufactured crisis — one that the county itself has perpetuated through chronic hiring freezes, hostile working conditions, and the outsourcing of public safety responsibilities to untrained civilians.”

As of Thursday afternoon, the County and county entities under the lawsuit have yet to respond, but with a response likely to come in the next several days.