-
Thirty officers at a juvenile detention center in Southern California have been charged for their involvement in organizing and facilitating “gladiator fights” among the youth under their supervision, as announced by the state’s attorney general on Monday.
A grand jury indictment alleges that officers at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles County permitted, and sometimes encouraged, nearly 70 fights between July and December 2023. Over 140 young individuals, aged 12 to 18, were involved.
“We believe that this was planned, it was intended,” Attorney General Rob Bonta stated. “They often wanted them to happen at the beginning of the day, in a certain time, in a certain place, a space and a time was created for the fights, and the plan was for the fights to happen.”
The officers face charges including child endangerment, abuse, conspiracy, and battery.
Twenty-two of the officers were scheduled to be arraigned on Monday at the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The investigation was initiated after the Los Angeles Times obtained and published footage showing a 17-year-old being attacked by at least six other youths, who assaulted him sequentially while officers watched. Some officers appeared to laugh and shake hands with the participants.
The video was first presented during a court hearing where the 17-year-old’s public defender argued that he was unsafe at Los Padrinos and should be released before his trial.
The indictment specifically names two probation officers who allegedly informed staff members in advance that fights would occur and that “they were not to say anything, write down anything, and just watch.” It also alleges that one officer instructed youths to “refuse treatment when they went to medical to get treated by nurses.”
The LA County Probation Department, which manages the facility, issued a statement expressing its “full support and applause” for the attorney general’
