Dear 2UrbanGirls,
Thank you for reporting on the ongoing issues within the Los Angeles County Probation Department but I would like to offer an alternative perspective to what you have reported so far.
This story is more deeper than what is being told and I know because I work there.
Our campus is open housing youth and the campus is top notch and youth are very safe. The main issue is that the state is turning over young adults 18-24 that they still consider youth but have been convicted of very serious crimes.
Currently, those youth are at Barry J. The issue is that Kilpatrick is not suitable for those individuals not our current youth.
The walls are not like other halls and camps that are concrete and stone. Do you remember the man who used a penny to break out one of the LAPD jails because the walls weren’t concrete?
I’m assigned to the program and I agree the youth should not be there only because of the amount of money spent and the design of the campus. The city of Santa Clarita is filing a lawsuit against us to keep us from housing the kids at Camps Scott and Scudder. They are more suited there.
The issue is that Santa Clarita has a new development and sold lots to future residents without fully disclosing the closed camps.
They closed within the last few years but we had never deemed them to never be reopened. The city’s mayor is fighting to keep camps closed because those buying lots for their homes are feeling like they have been mislead and now want out of their contracts.
These racist folks are always talking down to the Black and Brown communities and feeling that the staff from the same area is not qualified to handle them. This all comes down to race. Again, they spent $50 million on Kilpatrick and they want to justify spending $3M to remodel a very “beautiful” (considering the circumstances) campus.
To my point, there is a hilltop pool and a professional basketball court/gym that costed $120K.
If they do bring those “youth” there then YES it will be unsafe for our staff especially those that are non-officers. The camp should remain open for rehabilitation.
Department insider
