Five people were hospitalized Wednesday morning because of possible drug exposure inside Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, officials said.
Vicky Waters, the communications director for the L.A. County Probation Department, which oversees the juvenile halls, said the hospitalizations were due to “a suspected overdose and possible exposure to an unidentified substance.”
Youths being held at the hall and probation staff members were among those taken to the hospital on Wednesday morning, Waters said. She did not know what the substance was, where it was found or approximately what time the incident occurred.
Downey police and fire officials were responding to the hall, as well as hazardous materials crews, according to Waters.
The latest incident comes amid ongoing issues with drugs in the county’s juvenile halls.
On Monday, an employee for a nonprofit tutoring company was arrested at Los Padrinos and allegedly found in possession of 170 pills believed to be Xanax. Last month, L.A. prosecutors charged a probation officer with smuggling Xanax into the Secure Youth Treatment Facility at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar. Several youths also suffered drug overdoses at Los Padrinos in April, not long after probation officials found a large quantity of Xanax inside the facility.
Los Padrinos remains the subject of major scrutiny by state and county officials. In May, a judge ordered more than 100 youths to be moved out of the Downey hall after the facility repeatedly failed investigations carried out by a state oversight body.
California Atty. Gen Rob Bonta also said earlier this year he was mulling a state takeover of L.A. County’s juvenile justice system after years of scandals, riots, drug overdoses and allegations of officers abusing youths.
