Thirty “officers” working at a juvenile detention facility were charged with coordinating “gladiator fights” between the inmates. More responsible authorities are aware of around 70 separate incidents over a six month time frame. California’s attorney general announced he has a grand jury indictment in hand.
Juvenile detention fight club
If you have a beef with another inmate in detention, save the beating until everyone else can get their bets down, the guards apparently told young criminals in their care.
According to Attorney General Rob Bonta, thirty officers at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles County have been charged with staging so-called “gladiator fights.”
The grand jury was convinced that the detention officers “allowed and sometimes encouraged nearly 70 fights to take place between July 2023 and December 2023.”
They believe “more than 140 victims between the ages of 12 and 18 were involved.” Bonta and his investigators think “that this was planned, it was intended.”
That’s because the guards “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 in the detention center and “the plan was for the fights to happen.” They didn’t bother to alter, erase or even avoid the surveillance camera footage.
Child endangerment and abuse
Charging juvenile detention guards with child abuse isn’t something local citizens are going to be happy with.
California may turn a blind eye to shoplifting, carjacking and murder but these officers “face charges including child endangerment and abuse, conspiracy, and battery.”
Reports note that 22 of the officers were to be arraigned on Monday, March 3, at the Superior Court for Los Angeles County. There’s no word about the other eight.
One thing is certain, once they find themselves in detention they aren’t going to want to let the other inmates know what they’re in for.
The investigation only happened because the press “published footage that shows a 17-year-old being attacked by at least six other young people.” They didn’t gang up on him. Instead they “come at him one-by-one as officers stand by watching.” In between the rounds, “some officers appear to laugh and shake hands with the participants in the beating.”
At least two of the probation officers knew ahead of time that fights were scheduled and told detention staff “they were not to say anything, write down anything, and just watch.“
