By James Queally and Rebecca Ellis | LA Times
A top L.A. County probation official has said the agency won’t obey a state order to vacate Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall this month, potentially setting up a costly showdown between state and county officials and prompting threats of legal action from defense attorneys.
“We’re not moving,” Chief Deputy Probation Officer Kimberly Epps told a group of several dozen probation officers last month, according to a recording provided to The Times. “You’re going to have to put our stuff on the curb.”
Probation officials have not publicly signaled their plans, but a refusal to vacate Los Padrinos would defy the California Board of State and Community Corrections, which ordered the Downey facility shut by Thursday unless the county could improve staffing levels. A spokesperson for the state oversight board confirmed Monday that the Probation Department failed a last-chance inspection because it did not have enough officers on site to safely monitor the young people inside.
Read more at: LA Times
