LA County Approves Malibu Juvenile Facility Despite Local Opposition

MALIBU, CA — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday shot down a second proposal from Supervisor Kathryn Barger to close a juvenile probation camp in Santa Clarita.

Barger's motion came weeks after a heated board debate about the future of juvenile justice in the county, which will soon be responsible for the housing and care of juvenile offenders who previously would have been sent to state detention facilities.

With the state closing its juvenile prisons, the county was forced to identify Secure Youth Track Facilities where young offenders will be housed.

Despite significant pushback from Malibu and Santa Clarita, the Board of Supervisors advanced plans on March 15 to house and provide rehabilitative services to juvenile offenders at a trio of probation camps in Malibu, Santa Clarita and Commerce.

The board on March 15 rejected a counterproposal from Barger, who represents hesitant Santa Clarita, to convert the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar into a centralized facility. This would have dismissed the need to house juvenile offenders at Camp Kilpatrick, which is in an unincorporated part of the Malibu area.

Officials have compared Nidorf to a prison, and it has been described by state regulators as "unsuitable for confinement of youth," the Los Angeles Times reported.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's "decision recognized the longstanding problems associated with the State youth prison system and the need to better support youth’s rehabilitation and redefine public safety through providing age-appropriate treatment and keeping them closer to their communities and families," Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Sheila Kuehl said in their March 15 motion.

Kilpatrick will gradually begin receiving new residents on May 1, according to the Los Angeles Times. The number of people added will not exceed more than a few dozen, Kuehl said in a letter to the Malibu City Council.

Malibu and the Las Virgenes-Malibu Council of Governments have expressed frustration with the board's plans and favored Barger's first Nidorf plan. Representatives of the Board of Supervisors will join the next Council of Governments meeting on April 19 to address local concerns.

Malibu's Reservations

Malibu's key concerns relate to whether the city was properly included in the decision and that Kilpatrick was not designed or prepared to keep Malibu residents and Kilpatrick personnel safe, according to Malibu City Councilmember Karen Farrer. The board's decision seemed rushed, which raised concern about the plan's safety, Farrer said.

The board did not directly notify the city of its plans to approve Kilpatrick as a permanent detention facility until just days before the March 15 vote, according to Farrer. To Malibu, the timing seemed designed to avoid the loud opposition the board encountered with Santa Clarita, Farrer said.

Kuehl said Camp Kilpatrick has been in public county discussion for over a year.

"There have been young people in Probation’s care at Kilpatrick since 2017, and public discussion by the County’s Advisory Group on the disposition of these young people coming from the state, for over a year. The entire process has been public; nothing has been hidden,” Kuehl said.

Farrer said she agreed with the board's interest in improving the county's juvenile justice system, but disagreed with the decision to place more serious offenders in a facility not designed or built for them.

Malibu council members were under the impression the board would begin populating Kilpatrick before security enhancements and necessary renovations were made.

That is not the case, Kuehl said. The county has directed renovations necessary for security to be completed before any new juvenile offenders reach Kilpatrick, Kuehl said.

Given Camp Kilpatrick was in the path of the devastating 2018 Woolsey Fire, the facility's fire risk is also a concern for Malibu council members, Farrer said.

"Campus Kilpatrick is the county's newest juvenile facility and its design and programs have been informed by scientific research and national best practices. It is a locked facility where young people live in a therapeutic, home-like setting and are provided with individualized trauma informed plans to help them heal, build skills and transition to responsible and constructive lives," Kuehl said in a letter to the Malibu City Council.

City News Service contributed to this report.