a Times story<\/a> about probation officers who were convicted of crimes or disciplined for inappropriate conduct involving current or former probationers, including several cases of officers molesting or beating youths in their care. The phone number listed for Probation Ombudsman Jessica Gama on websites and signs posted in the halls and camps was inoperable until about four weeks ago, when a probation spokeswoman responding to calls from The Times said an "urgent work order" had been submitted to repair it. <\/p>\n<\/p>\nInterim probation chief Cal Remington said Gama\u2019s phone line was mistakenly shut off by probation staff for about two weeks during a cost-cutting review of unused lines because records showed she never used it to call out. <\/p>\n
He said department staff fixed the line as soon as they were alerted to the problem. \u201cWe certainly want kids and families to have access to our ombudsman,\u201d Remington said, adding, \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t happen again.\u201d Remington said he has spoken with Gama and was reassured that she is fielding complaints effectively. \u201cShe does her job well and follows up on those phone calls,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there are problems with the grievance system, this is a check and balance on that.\u201d <\/p>\n
Some youth advocates who have fought to improve the probation grievance system vouched for Gama, but said probation managers have failed to investigate grievances she reported in the past. \u201cYoung people still don\u2019t feel like filing those grievances gets a positive response, nor do parents,\u201d said Kim McGill of the Inglewood-based Youth Justice Coalition, which wants to see probation incorporate youths and families into its oversight and outreach efforts. <\/p>\n
The Probation Department has faced federal investigations of the camps and halls in recent years, as well as a federal class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU last month on behalf of students at one of the probation camps alleging they received substandard education. Given the problems raised by those inquiries, Curry wrote, it is particularly important to ensure an effective probation grievance process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe commission believes that assistance from the auditor-controller can provide quality control oversights and a more independent approach which would assist the new chief of probation in identifying systemic issues in the camps and halls,\u201d Curry wrote. \u201cIt would also provide an important service for the youth.\u201d About 20,000 youths were held at the county\u2019s three juvenile halls last year, about 4,200 at the county\u2019s 19 camps, Remington said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Mike Antonovich proposed that the Office of Independent Review, which monitors the Sheriff\u2019s Department, evaluate the Probation Department\u2019s internal affairs and child abuse investigations. <\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas proposed expanding probation\u2019s internal affairs staff. Remington, who is in the midst of assessing the department before newly appointed director Donald Blevins takes over April 19, said he supports both proposals. \u201cWe want accountability,\u201d he said. \u201cI need help looking at all this. We want everything to get better and we don\u2019t want problems to pop up.\u201d <\/p>\n
–Molly Hennessy-Fiske<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families is calling for an audit of the county\u2019s probation ombudsman and the grievance process for youths in county detention halls and camps. The commission\u2019s leader, Patricia Curry, sent a letter to county supervisors Tuesday asking them to direct the county Auditor-Controller\u2019s Office to perform an independent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}