{"id":73947,"date":"2025-07-08T15:34:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T22:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73947"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:34:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T22:34:49","slug":"supervisors-advance-strategy-to-tackle-drug-use-and-smuggling-at-county-juvenile-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73947","title":{"rendered":"Supervisors Advance Strategy to Tackle Drug Use and Smuggling at County Juvenile Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Motion by Hahn and Horvath calls for expanded screening, substance use treatment after string of drug-related incidents<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Probation\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Supervisor Hahn during today’s meeting of the LA Couinty Board of Supervisors. (Click for full-size version)<\/p>\n

Los Angeles, CA<\/strong> – Today in a 4-0 vote with one abstention, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved\u00a0a motion<\/a>\u00a0authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath that directs the County’s Probation Department to implement a strategy to curb an ongoing issue with the smuggling and use of illicit drugs within the County’s juvenile detention centers, including through enhanced security screening and expanded substance use treatment. Today’s emergency motion comes after a string of drug-related incidents, most recently\u00a0an incident at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall<\/a>\u00a0in Downey last Wednesday in which several youth and staff were hospitalized after suspected exposure to toxic drugs.<\/p>\n

“Youth in Los Padrinos aren’t even allowed to hug their moms\u00a0out of fear\u00a0of drugs or contraband being passed, yet\u00a0drugs keep getting in.\u00a0We are failing our youth, we are failing our employees, and every day, we risk losing another life\u00a0to substance use,”\u00a0said Supervisor Hahn, whose district includes Los Padrinos.<\/strong>\u00a0“I cannot sit by and do nothing to prevent drugs from coming into these juvenile facilities \u2013 if it will save lives, then\u00a0I believe it\u00a0is worth every effort.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The Probation Department must now enhance its screening practices, including installing airport-style body scanners and strengthening the use of canines to detect drugs. Additionally, the motion calls for it work with the Department of Public Health’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Control (DPH-SAPC) to expand treatment for youth with active substance use disorders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unacceptable that young people in our County\u2019s care are being exposed to dangerous drugs\u2014sometimes with deadly consequences,\u201d\u00a0said Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThe recent incidents at Los Padrinos and Barry J. Nidorf are a sobering reminder that, despite progress, contraband is still infiltrating our facilities and putting youth, staff, and service providers in harm\u2019s way. This motion advances our work to strengthen security, overhaul accountability, and ensure every young person in our care has access to evidence-based treatment and a safe, supportive environment to heal and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week’s suspected overdose and exposure at Los Padrinos was the latest in a string of incidents. In June, the Probation Department announced arrests in two separate incidents of suspected smuggling, first\u00a0on June 10 of a Deputy Probation Officer<\/a>\u00a0accused of smuggling alprazolam into Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, and then\u00a0on June 30 of an employee of a contracted provider<\/a>\u00a0for allegedly attempting to smuggle more than 170 white pills into Los Padrinos. Today’s motion also directs the Probation Department to cancel the contract with that contracted provider, Student Nest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Motion by Hahn and Horvath calls...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73948,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73947\/revisions\/73948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}