There are holiday decorations on the walls and streamers hanging from the ceiling. While it may not look like an octagon where mixed-martial arts bouts take place, the room in the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall served as a gladiatorial pit for dozens of incarcerated teens.
Thirty detention officers were indicted and charged on a total of 71 counts by the California Attorney General on February 13, 2025. The charges include child endangerment, abuse, conspiracy, and battery for allowing and even encouraging youths to attack one another. The story broke when a video showing several attacks was shown during a hearing as the victim sought to be transferred to a safer location.
West Side Story, but Without the Music or the Romance
Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall was reopened in 2023 after the Board of State and Community Corrections deemed the other youth facilities in Los Angeles County unsuitable. With a riot, escape attempts, and a gun found on the property, it had already been a rough first year for Los Padrinos.
Turns out it had been more of a disaster than initially thought. During a hearing to determine if her client should be released before his trial for his safety, an attorney played a six-minute long video from December of 2023 as evidence of abuse. It soon made its way to the L.A. Times and public exposure.
The video shows a room decorated for Christmas. It contains several tables with attached chairs and a large open area. Several juvenile detainees are seated at the tables eating breakfast while a small teen paces nervously. At least five detention officers are spread around the room, leaning on the walls.
Throughout the recording, numerous inmates attack the standing youth. Some are ushered in from a hallway by one of the guards and, after 10 to 15 seconds of fighting, return to the doorway to receive a tray with their breakfast. They sit down and eat while the next attacker goes after the victim.
While most of the guards don't stir from their positions, a couple are seen directing the attackers, laughing and smiling during the fights, and even shaking hands with one of the assailants after his scuffle. The youth, who suffered a broken nose and other injuries, wasn't taken for medical attention until days later.
The Probation Chief of Las Padrinos, Guillermo Viera Rose, called for an investigation by law enforcement from outside the facility. It uncovered over six months of detention officers not intervening in fights. Attorneys for inmates have claimed that the officers not only didn't break up the altercations, they actively encouraged them. This included stoking rivalries between gang members and inciting race hatred.
In all, some 69 fights occurred between 143 juvenile inmates. Detention officers routinely downplayed the incidents they bothered to report, giving false accounts that were contradicted by their actions in the video. 22 were suspended without pay as a result of the investigation.
A Change in Uniform?
In addition to at least one civil suit filed by an inmate that names the county and Viera Rose as well, 30 detention officers face 71 charges between them. All carry the possibility of felony convictions. In addition, all charges are subject to circumstances in aggravation due to particularly vulnerable victims being taken advantage of by those in a position of trust or confidence.
Given the egregious nature of the crimes and the video evidence available as proof, some of the detention officers may soon find themselves on the other side of a cell door. If so, the new inmates can only hope their future overseers show more compassion than they did.
Related Resources
- Prisoners' Rights (FindLaw's Civil Rights Laws)
- What Are Juvenile Delinquents? (FindLaw's Juvenile Justice)
- The First Rule of Toddler Fight Club is "No Pinching, Only Punching" (FindLaw' Legally Weird)
