A boy who was attacked by at least six other youths at a juvenile detention facility during alleged “gladiator fights” that were reportedly led by probation officers will receive $2.7 million from Los Angeles County on Monday.
Surveillance footage of the boy’s 2023 beating at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall also revealed a number of authorities watching passively and some of them shaking hands with the beating participants.
In March, 30 correctional staff were accused by a state grand jury for their involvement in permitting and occasionally inciting over 70 fights that occurred between July and December 2023. The police are charged with conspiracy, assault, and endangering and abusing children.
Authorities say that around 140 individuals between the ages of 12 and 18 were involved.
Following the announcement of the indictments, Attorney General Rob Bonta stated that it appeared the acts were premeditated.
“They often wanted them to happen at the beginning of the day, in a certain time, in a certain place. A space and a time was created for the fights, and the plan was for the fights to happen,” he stated.
After the Los Angeles Times first acquired and released video footage of a 16-year-old being attacked by at least six other youths, who approached him one by one while police watched, the inquiry got underway.
A public counsel for the now-17-year-old child told a judge that he was unsafe at Los Padrinos and should be released before his trial, which is when the video was first made public.
The payment, according to his lawyer Jamal Tooson, was a “first step” in acknowledging the “egregious” behavior of the LA County Probation Department.
“Our priority needs to be not just protecting my client but all children in similar circumstances under the care and watch of the probation department,” Tooson stated. “There were lawsuits prior to this. I personally represent several individuals who’ve been harmed at the same facility after this.”
After the released video footage of a 16-year-old being attacked by at least six other youths, who approached him one by one while police watched, the inquiry got underway.
A public counsel for the now-17-year-old child told a judge that he was unsafe at Los Padrinos and should be released before his trial, which is when the video was first made public.
The payment, according to his lawyer Jamal Tooson, was a “first step” in acknowledging the “egregious” behavior of the LA County Probation Department.
The department’s rectification action plan states that personnel neglected to examine the facility’s CCTV footage, postponed transporting the teen to the hospital, and took too long to alert his parents. To solve these problems, the government will make sure CCTV monitors are “staffed routinely,” audit footage at random, and create a procedure to guarantee that children in detention receive medical attention and that their parents are properly informed.
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A proposal to relocate more than 100 adolescents from Los Padrinos was approved in May after a judge in April declared that the LA County Probation Department could not keep keeping juveniles there. Los Padrinos has already been ordered to close by the California state commission that regulates local prisons.
Tooson feels that the correction action plan is unable to address the widespread “culture problem” that exists throughout the probation department’s facilities.
According to him, he has brought at least 19 lawsuits in federal court, claiming anything from sexual assault by staff members to physical violence permitted by administrators in LA County’s juvenile detention facilities.
“Until we actively start changing the mindset and behavior of those who are put into a caretaking responsibility of these youth, I think we’re going to find ourselves in the same situation,” he stated.
