Barry J. Nidorf, 63; Ex-Chief of L.A. County Probation Department

Barry J. Nidorf, a former chief of probation for Los Angeles County who developed programs for juvenile offenders that included crime prevention strategies as well as punishment and who trained so many other justice professionals that he was known by colleagues as “Mr. Probation,” has died. He was 63.

Nidorf died Monday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills of complications from leukemia, said Ken Kondo, public relations officer of the county Probation Department.

As chief of probation from 1984 to 1997, Nidorf introduced the first juvenile boot camps in the nation, starting with Camp Munz and Camp Mendenhall near Lake Hughes in 1991. He formed partnerships with Los Angeles-area businesses to provide literacy training for boot camp inmates.

Early studies indicated that only about 25% of youths who finished their sentences at the camps became repeat offenders, less than half the rate of typical juvenile offenders. The program became a national model.

Nidorf’s department, the largest of its kind in the nation, included more than 4,000 employees supervising 80,000 adults and 16,000 juvenile offenders.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a high school classmate, called Nidorf, “a man of integrity, vision and leadership who will be remembered as a great leader.”

The year after he retired, an existing detention center in Sylmar was renamed in his honor.

The Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall had been brought up to date with new technology that included bulletproof glass, video cameras and metal detectors.

While Nidorf was known for emphasizing crime prevention, he said it was not his first priority.

“Probation should be a form of punishment,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a 1984 interview. “If we can help [offenders] along the way, fine. But primarily the client has to be the community rather than the probationer.”

Nidorf, who was born in Los Angeles, graduated from UCLA and earned a master’s degree in public administration at USC. He served in the Air Force in the early 1960s and worked briefly as an insurance underwriter before he joined the Los Angeles County Probation Department in 1965.

He held several positions, including chief deputy probation officer, before he was named head of the department. He also served on a number of councils related to criminal justice.

“He’s always been on the cutting edge, especially with regard to programs for juveniles,” said Rocco Pozzi, president of the American Probation and Parole Assn., when Nidorf retired.

Nidorf is survived by his wife, Carol; two children from his first marriage, David and Lisa; four grandchildren; and his sister, Sandra.