Instead of focusing on rehabilitation and preparing young individuals for reintegration into society, nearly 150 children at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles County were allegedly forced into what has been described as “gladiator fights” over a six-month period.
On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Banta unveiled a grand jury indictment against 30 officers from the facility, charging them with child endangerment, abuse, conspiracy, and battery, according to a press release from his office.
The investigation into Los Padrinos began in January 2024 after a video of an alleged “gladiator fight” was leaked to the public. The footage, dated December 2023 and published by the Los Angeles Times in April 2024, shows eight correctional officers standing by as a group of teenagers assaulted a 17-year-old in a “day room.” The victim sustained a broken nose and a traumatic brain injury, as reported in a civil claim cited by the Times.
The California Department of Justice found that minors in the detention center were “allowed, and in some instances, encouraged” to participate in 69 separate fights between the facility’s reopening on July 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023.
