Security at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall stopped and detained a contracted employee from the county’s Department of Youth Development after discovering a knife and pepper spray inside the employee’s bag during a screening.
In a statement, the Los Angeles County Probation Department indicated that its security personnel found the knife during a routine security screening Wednesday morning, July 16, and then a subsequent search of the individual’s belongings uncovered the pepper spray. The employee was contracted through the staffing agency AppleOne, according to the Probation Department.
“Both items were collected and secured as evidence,” the statement reads. “The employee was escorted from the premises and instructed not to return pending further investigation.”
The incident was referred to the “appropriate authorities,” officials said.
In response, the Department of Youth Development stated it is “disturbed by the allegations that a contractor’s employee brought pepper spray and a wallet knife” into Los Padrinos.
“The safety and well-being of our youth are, and always will be, our absolute highest priority, and we are addressing this matter with the utmost gravity,” the statement reads. “DYD has already taken swift action regarding the individual involved and we fully support a thorough, immediate investigation to determine all facts and ensure every appropriate measure is taken.”
DYD is a relatively new department created by the county to implement its vision for youth justice reforms. Among the county’s reforms is a mandate to halt the use of pepper spray within the county’s juvenile halls, though that phase-out has since been reversed in response to violence and safety concerns among staff. A review by the Southern California News Group in 2024 found that probation officers used pepper spray an average of 1.3 times per day in the first year after Los Padrinos reopened.
The security at Los Padrinos has been under intense scrutiny for years as a result of a series of drug-related incidents. Probation officials announced plans to install airport-style body scanners and increase the use of K9s at checkpoints in early July following a string of overdoses and the arrest of a tutor accused of smuggling nearly 200 pills into the facility.