* Re your Feb. 18 editorial on the atrocious state of L.A. County's juvenile justice facilities: For many years there has been a tragic lack of staff training, support in the facilities has been limited and staffing has been dangerously low. Every attempt to work with the county to increase staff professionalism has been ignored. Our attempts to get the county to agree to provide the necessary support and to staff the juvenile halls and camps at appropriate levels were also rebuffed.
In 1998, we filed a lawsuit against the county to deal with the dilapidated human infrastructure. This lawsuit eventually led to a consent decree forcing the county to comply with minimum Board of Corrections regulations. However, these minimum regulations do not in any way provide for adequate levels of staffing and the professionalism of staff necessary to rehabilitate juvenile offenders.
