L.A. County youth camps fail to meet U.S.-ordered reforms
The Los Angeles County Probation Department has not fulfilled seven federally ordered reforms at its youth camps.
A report released late last week by federal monitors found that the agency still needs to improve staffing levels at some of its 14 camps, improve how it identifies youths who have mental problems and do a better job of evaluating and treating youths with medical problems, among other issues.
The probation department, which houses and works to rehabilitate about 2,200 of the area’s most troubled youths, has been under federal oversight for almost a decade. As part of a 2008 deal, federal officials threatened to take over the department unless it complied with 41 reforms.
Probation officials have said they believed the department would meet virtually all of the requirements.
“I really believe we’re going to be in over 90% of compliance,” Cal Remington, the department’s chief deputy, said last year.
But in a draft of the report last month, monitors found that the probation department was falling short on 11 requirements and was providing incomplete data for some categories. County officials had 10 days to respond to the draft and were apparently able to provide more information to prove that they were fulfilling four of those 11 requirements.
Remington and other probation officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday. It’s unclear if the department has done enough to avert a takeover.
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
