December 17, 2024

Los Angeles CA – Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has released the following statement on the Los Padrinos emergency declaration on today’s agenda:

“While I support the measures to improve staffing at Los Padrinos, I oppose a key directive in this proclamation which directs county counsel to take any measures necessary to prevent all young people detained from being released.

This approach is counter-productive and would only make the existing staffing challenges at Los Padrinos worse.

Not every young person in Los Padrinos is charged with a serious and violent crime. There are teenagers detained there for vandalism, buying a stolen good, and theft. There is no reason that many of them cannot be safely released from Los Padrinos and cared for in other settings. There is a collaborative process for releasing young people appropriately that we cannot walk away from, and in fact we should build on it during this crisis.

At today’s meeting, I will offer an amendment to the emergency proclamation to address this issue and I am hopeful that my colleagues will support it.”