Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall Abuse Claims

Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, at 7285 Quill Drive in Downey, is run by the Los Angeles County Probation Department. It opened in 1957, was closed by the Board of Supervisors in 2019 as the detained population fell, and was reopened in July 2023 to take in roughly 270 youth after the state found the county’s two other juvenile halls unsuitable. Since then it has been the subject of repeated state findings, a court-approved depopulation plan, and criminal charges against its own officers.

What the record shows

• State findings. The Board of State and Community Corrections, which inspects California juvenile facilities, found Los Padrinos unsuitable to house youth in February 2024, reversed that finding in April 2024, and in October 2024 again found it unsuitable, citing staffing failures, and ordered the youth removed by December 12, 2024. The county kept the hall open past the deadline, lost its appeal in April 2025, and in May 2025 a Superior Court judge approved a plan to move about 100 youth out rather than close the facility. As of spring 2026 the hall continued to house more than 200 youth under a standing unsuitability finding.
• Falsified records. In June 2024 state inspectors reported that staff had been falsifying required activity logs.
• Criminal charges. On March 3, 2025, the California Attorney General charged 30 Los Padrinos detention officers with child abuse and endangerment, conspiracy, and battery for allowing and, in some instances, encouraging 69 fights involving 143 youth between July and December 2023. In June 2025 the county agreed to pay $2.7 million to a youth who was 16 when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in one of those fights.
• Sexual misconduct. In May 2024 the Probation Department reported that 18 of the 66 officers it had placed on leave since January 1, 2024, department-wide, were under investigation for sexual misconduct. In 2021 an investigative report documented a Los Padrinos officer accused of sexually assaulting a detained girl in late 2018 and early 2019 whose case was not seriously investigated for more than a year; he was fired in December 2020 and reportedly appealed.
• Overdoses. Three youth overdosed at the hall in the spring of 2025, and seven people, six of them staff, were hospitalized in July 2025 after a suspected drug exposure.

The Los Angeles County settlements

In April 2025 the Board of Supervisors approved a $4 billion settlement of more than 6,800 claims of sexual abuse in county juvenile halls, probation camps, MacLaren Hall, and foster care, with abuse dating back to 1959, most of it from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. In October 2025 the county approved a second settlement of $828 million for 414 more plaintiffs, with roughly 2,500 cases still pending. Those settlements resolved the claims of the people who were part of them. They did not close the door on anyone else: new claims continue to be filed, and the law described below decides whether yours is timely.

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 Los Padrinos, during its original decades of operation through 2019 or since its reopening in 2023, 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.