The Urban Peace Institute believes youth in detention can be safer at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is imperative during this public health crisis that all youth are released from unsafe detention conditions that do not allow for social distancing, nor adequate prevention efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.

UPI is advocating for the immediate release for nearly 600 youth within the nation’s largest juvenile justice system.

Currently, in Los Angeles County there are:

• 371 youth locked away in juvenile halls, and 219 in the camps

• These 590 young people had to experience this frightening pandemic isolated from loved ones and have lost access to all programming, visitation, and meaningful education for over 7 weeks

• LA County Probation struggled greatly with social distancing and transparency for many weeks:

•   6 youth have tested positive for COVID-19

•   37 youth are already isolated from their peers because of possible exposure

•   16 Probation staff that have tested positive for COVID-19, 8 of which work in Juvenile facilities

The Youth Re-Entry Support Inventory has found that community based providers across LA County are ready to welcome young people with supportive environments, needed services and community connections. In recent weeks, we have surveyed networks of youth development and re-entry service providers:

·       Nearly 40 service providers across LA County indicated they are happy to welcome re-entering young people with an array of services and programming from intensive case management to arts, writing and political education. More organizations indicated they could increase capacity with more funding.

·       Within the Youth Re-Entry Support Inventory, providers collectively indicated the capacity to serve over 900 young people, with many organizations not indicating any capacity limit.

·       Many organizations in the inventory are part of existing networks of youth development and County partnership and already have contracting set up with LA City or County.

The data presented represents the most recent figures available as of May 20, 2020. Updates from the Los Angeles County Probation Department related to COVID-19 can be found here.