Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall (Sylmar) Abuse Claims

Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, at 16350 Filbert Street in Sylmar, opened in 1965 and is run by the Los Angeles County Probation Department. It houses the county’s Secure Youth Treatment Facility, which took in young people who would once have gone to the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice, and in 2025 the county resumed using it as a juvenile hall, two years after the state found it unsuitable for that purpose, a finding that remained in place.

What the record shows

• State findings. On May 23, 2023, the Board of State and Community Corrections found Nidorf and Central Juvenile Hall unsuitable for the confinement of youth, citing failures in safety checks, room confinement, programming, staffing, and use of force, and gave the county 60 days to move roughly 300 youth out. In July 2025 the Board found that Nidorf “remains unsuitable” as a juvenile hall. In August 2025 the county moved 39 youth from Los Padrinos to Nidorf without the Board’s approval, and inspections in December 2025 identified further noncompliance in both the hall and the treatment facility; the county’s corrective action plans were approved in March 2026.
• The Attorney General’s judgment. Since January 2021, Nidorf and Central have been operating under a court-enforced judgment obtained by the California Attorney General after a state civil rights investigation that began in 2018, covering use of force, room confinement, staffing, medical and mental health care, education, and grievances. The court granted the Attorney General’s enforcement motion in May 2023. In July 2025 the Attorney General asked the court to place the county’s juvenile halls in receivership, reporting that the county was out of compliance with three-quarters of the judgment’s provisions; in October 2025 the judge declined, for the time being, to appoint a receiver and said the court would set timelines for the county to complete the required changes.
• Deaths and drugs. In May 2023 an 18-year-old died of an apparent overdose inside the Secure Youth Treatment Facility. In June 2025 prosecutors charged a Nidorf officer with conspiring with detainees to sell Xanax inside the facility during the months that followed.
• Lawsuits. In December 2022, 279 former detainees sued the county alleging sexual abuse by staff in county juvenile halls and camps from the 1970s through 2018, with many of the claims arising at Nidorf. Thousands of such claims were resolved in the county’s $4 billion settlement approved in April 2025 and its $828 million second settlement approved in October 2025; roughly 2,500 cases remained pending as of late 2025.

Why the county is responsible

The county is responsible for what its officers did and for what its supervisors failed to do: ignoring complaints, leaving kids alone with staff who should have been watched, moving accused officers from one facility to another, or not reporting abuse. You do not have to file a government claim first. If you are 40 or older and the abuse happened before 2024, a 2026 law also requires stronger proof against a county: clear and convincing evidence that the county actually knew of the misconduct and failed to act. More on juvenile detention claims.

Is it too late?

Probably not. If the abuse happened before 2024, you can usually file until you turn 40, or within a few years of realizing as an adult that the abuse caused harm you are living with now (that window is five years today; a law signed in 2026 shortens it to three years starting January 1, 2027). If the abuse happened on or after January 1, 2024, there is no deadline at all. You do not have to file a government claim first. More on deadlines.

Who may have a claim

Anyone sexually abused by staff while held at Nidorf, in the juvenile hall or the Secure Youth Treatment Facility, at any time since it opened in 1965, and anyone abused by another youth where staff failed to supervise or ignored warnings. Los Angeles County claims. Not part of the county’s settlements? You can still file.

Talk to us

If you were abused while held at this facility, at any age, call 877-428-4544. The conversation is private and free. Claims are filed under a Doe name, a criminal record or an open case does not disqualify you, and there is no attorney fee and no costs unless we recover.

The facts above are drawn from official records and news reports as of October 2026. Arrests and civil allegations are not findings of guilt. This page is general information, not legal advice, and the cases described are not our cases.