Held at Los Padrinos, Nidorf, High Desert or Kearny Mesa as a kid? What happened there was not okay.

Four halls, three counties. Los Padrinos in Downey and Barry J. Nidorf in Sylmar belong to Los Angeles County; High Desert in Apple Valley is San Bernardino County's; Kearny Mesa in San Diego is San Diego County's. What the four have in common is that each one is being sued by the people who were held there as children. The thing that changed everything was April 2025, when L.A. County's Board voted $4 billion to settle more than 6,800 of those claims, and then $828 million more in October. If you were locked up in one of the four as a kid and a person on the payroll crossed a line, this is about you, whichever of the four it was.

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This applies to you no matter what

You were only there briefly. Stays at Los Padrinos and Nidorf run 7 to 23 days by Probation's own count, and the man suing San Diego County over Kearny Mesa says one week, in 2000. Nobody is asking how long.
You went between halls. Los Padrinos to Nidorf, Nidorf to Central, High Desert to Gilbert Street. Pick the one you remember best in the first question and say the rest on the call.
It was decades ago and you figure that's that. Except most of the 6,800 claims L.A. County settled in April 2025 were from the '80s, the '90s and the 2000s. Your birth year counts for more than the year it happened; the deadline section further down says why.
You were there after 2023. Los Padrinos reopened in July 2023, Nidorf started taking boys back in August 2025, and for anything from January 1, 2024 on, California put no deadline on it at all.
You live out of state now. The case sits in California and you don't need to.

The four halls' lawsuits, the settlements and the state's findings: what the public record says, and when

None of what follows is ours. The complaints were filed by former detainees and their lawyers, the settlements were voted by L.A. County's Board of Supervisors, the findings were made by the California Attorney General and the state's corrections board, and reporters wrote it up. Every line links to where it came from. Where a complaint is the source it's an allegation and we say so. One more thing, because this page covers four buildings in three counties: every entry below is a record of one of the four halls or of the county that runs it, nothing borrowed from somewhere else and pinned on a hall that has no record of its own.

December 20, 2022

279 former detainees sued Los Angeles County over sexual abuse by probation and detention officers in its juvenile halls and camps. Los Padrinos in Downey and Barry J. Nidorf in Sylmar are two of the six facilities named, with Central, Challenger and two camps. The conduct described runs from the 1970s through 2018, and officers, the complaint says, used isolation, lost privileges and cut-off family contact to keep kids quiet. Allegations, every one. CBS Los Angeles.

May 9, 2023

Judge Michael P. Linfield granted the Attorney General's motion to enforce the state's 2021 judgment against L.A. County, People v. County of Los Angeles, case 21STCV01309. The County still hadn't met provisions on medical care, staffing, getting kids to class, and camera installation at Barry J. Nidorf. Two weeks later the state's corrections board found Nidorf unsuitable to hold youth and gave the County 60 days to move roughly 300 young people out of Nidorf and Central. They went to Los Padrinos in July. A conditions record, not a finding of sexual abuse; we keep the two apart. California Attorney General.

July 13, 2024

A reporter's tally put the filings in Los Angeles County Superior Court at about 5,200 plaintiffs by May 2024, roughly 2,300 of them about Probation facilities. Two of the complaints read for that story are about Los Padrinos: a girl of 15 held there for two months in 2011 who says an officer groomed her and groped her at meals, and a boy of 13 in 2005 who says a probation employee sexually assaulted him in his room. Both are allegations. The Imprint.

November 19, 2024

The Attorney General and L.A. County jointly asked the court to tighten the judgment after the state's monitor reported conditions at Los Padrinos and at Nidorf's secure youth treatment facility getting worse: staffing below minimums, drugs coming in, fights between youths that staff set off, kids retaliated against for filing grievances, cameras that didn't cover the units. Bonta's words: the County "has utterly failed in this responsibility to date." California Attorney General.

February 16, 2025

At least two dozen. That was the San Diego Union-Tribune's count of people suing San Diego County who say a probation officer sexually assaulted them as a child in one of its juvenile facilities, most of them at the old Kearny Mesa hall, a count built from claims pulled by public records request. The suits describe conduct from 1970 to 2022 and accuse the Probation Department of the same three failures, in screening, in investigating complaints, in disciplining anyone at all. In discovery the County said many of the records were already gone. Its policy: facility records are destroyed after five years. San Diego Union-Tribune.

April 29, 2025

The Board of Supervisors voted $4 billion. It settles more than 6,800 sexual abuse claims at L.A. County's Probation facilities and at MacLaren, conduct reaching back to 1959, most of it from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Payments run through 2030 and then keep going, into the 2050s. "On behalf of the County, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts," the County's chief executive said. On October 28 the Board approved a second settlement, $828 million for 414 more cases. CBS Los Angeles.

May 13, 2025

Attorney General Rob Bonta opened a civil rights investigation into San Diego County and the County Office of Education, to determine whether the County has engaged in a pattern or practice of unlawful treatment of youth at the Youth Transition Campus, the rebuilt Kearny Mesa site, and at East Mesa. It is an open investigation. No findings have been announced. California Attorney General.

February 27, 2026

By February 2026 L.A. County's own lawyers were counting. More than 11,000 claimants under the $4 billion deal once it was announced. More than 400 cases under the October one. And then, in County Counsel's words, "after entering into these two settlements, the County was served with an estimated 5,000 additional cases, for a total of more than 16,000 claims, a figure that is expected to rise." One thing to know before you call: every plaintiff now files a detailed factual summary, under penalty of perjury. County of Los Angeles, Office of County Counsel.

May 15, 2026

This is the one that names High Desert, and two of its accounts are from there. A girl of 16 who alleges that in 2007 two officers took turns sexually assaulting her in a restroom, eight occasions, one standing lookout while the other went in. And a boy, 15, in 2003: a guard came into his cell three times, he alleges, and told him to shut his mouth or he'd be put in solitary. The filing itself: San Bernardino Superior Court, 136 former detainees, conduct from 1996 through 2024, three halls named, the Gilbert Street hall, the Youth Justice Center and the High Desert Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center out in Apple Valley. Supervisors ignored the complaints they got and hid the misconduct, it alleges; the county, asked, said it does not comment on active litigation. San Bernardino Sun.

August 7, 2026

Then a companion complaint against San Bernardino County, this one for 123 more former detainees, filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court. It sues the county and its Probation Department, plus 49 employees named in full or in part and 500 Does. The allegation is that county officials were warned, again and again, and did nothing, and that the cover was falsified logs, threats to whistleblowers, tampering with the surveillance systems. The county declined to comment. San Bernardino Sun.

September 8, 2026

The newest one. Doe v. County of Los Angeles, 2:26-cv-10077, filed in federal court in Los Angeles by six plaintiffs who sue as Jane and John Does. Three say they were held at Los Padrinos around 2001 to 2003, one at Barry J. Nidorf in 2001 and 2002, two at Central, all aged 12 to 16. The complaint pleads childhood sexual assault under California's statute, says no government claim was required, and says the plaintiffs learned of the County's alleged failures "through public disclosures and advertisements in approximately 2025." It's a complaint; nothing in it is proven. CourtListener docket, C.D. Cal..

We checked this on September 23, 2026, and the newest thing in it is from September 8, 2026. When something new gets filed or decided, it goes in here within 72 hours, with the link.

Who can be held responsible in a California juvenile hall lawsuit

Three counties, not one, and it matters which. Los Padrinos and Barry J. Nidorf are buildings run by the County of Los Angeles through its Probation Department, and the County is the defendant in every L.A. suit on this page. High Desert answers to the County of San Bernardino. Kearny Mesa, and the Youth Transition Campus built where it stood, answer to the County of San Diego. The theory is the same in all three courthouses, and it isn't complicated. An officer who abuses a kid in a locked unit answers for himself. The county that hired him, put him alone with children, heard about it and moved him or kept him on? That county answers for what it let happen. The complaints say so, in the law's own words: negligent hiring, negligent supervision, retention, a failure to investigate what it was told.

Because a county is a public body, three things change, and a lawyer walks you through them. No punitive damages against the county; California law bars them. No cap on what a jury can award. And for a childhood claim there is no government-claim form to file first, no six-month window to have missed, whatever year it was. One more, for anyone filing at 40 or older against the county itself: the law asks for a showing that the county knew or should have known, plus certificates of merit from a lawyer and a therapist. Hurdles, not walls; L.A. County has settled claims from the 1980s.

Now the money, because people ask. The $4 billion L.A. County's Board approved in April 2025 and the $828 million it added that October settled claims that were already on file, more than 11,000 of them, and admitted no wrongdoing. There is no fund to apply to. A new case is filed on its own, in court, the way six people did in federal court this September. If you signed on to one of those settlements, it's done; say so on the call. San Bernardino County and San Diego County have settled nothing. What they have is filed cases, 259 plaintiffs in San Bernardino's two 2026 complaints, at least two dozen suits and eight more over San Diego's halls, and in San Diego an open Attorney General investigation. Nobody should read L.A.'s figure as a word about the other two.

Your deadline: the California statute of limitations for sexual abuse at a county juvenile hall

Until you turn 40, or five years from the day you understood what it did to you, whichever comes later. That's California's rule for anything that happened to a minor before 2024, Code of Civil Procedure section 340.11, and it's the same rule at all four halls, whichever county runs them. It's why the questions ask your birth year. Born in 1987 or later and the door is open on age alone. Born before that and it turns on discovery, which is a conversation with a lawyer, not a date you look up.

For anything from January 1, 2024 onward, no deadline. None. The Legislature took the clock off entirely for conduct from that date forward, section 340.1. That covers Los Padrinos since it reopened, Nidorf today, the Youth Transition Campus in San Diego, and High Desert's most recent years. And one rule that cuts your way because every one of these is a county hall: a childhood sexual abuse claim doesn't need a government claim filed first, under Government Code section 905(m) and section 340.11(s). Any year. No form, no missed six months.

Plainly, then. Held in 2024 or after? You have time, full stop. Born in 1987 or later, same answer. Born earlier, held in the '90s or the 2000s or before: you may, and L.A. County has already paid people from exactly those years, so one call finds out. A lawyer decides, not a calendar.

Your situation still qualifies even if

You never told a soul. Not a parent, not a public defender, nobody.
You told an officer, or you filed a grievance, and it got worse. The state's monitor has written that down about L.A. County's halls.
You were only there a week, or only on weekends.
You went back more than once. Most people who were ever held did.
You don't have a word for what happened and you're half sure it wouldn't count. That's for a lawyer to weigh, not you.
You live in Nevada, Arizona, anywhere else now. The case sits in California and you don't need to.

The four halls

You know which one it was; the questions just need it said. Los Padrinos, 7285 Quill Drive in Downey, has a page of its own with the reopening and the criminal case laid out, /los-padrinos-juvenile-hall-survivors. Nidorf, 16350 Filbert Street in Sylmar, the one everybody still calls Sylmar Juvenile Hall, secure youth treatment facility included, is at /barry-j-nidorf-juvenile-hall-survivors. High Desert, 21101 Dale Evans Parkway up in Apple Valley: /high-desert-juvenile-detention-survivors. Kearny Mesa, the San Diego hall at 2801 Meadow Lark Drive that's gone now, the Youth Transition Campus in its place since 2022: /kearny-mesa-juvenile-hall-survivors. The other L.A. and San Diego halls and camps sit on the county pages, /la-county-juvenile-halls-survivors and /san-diego-county-juvenile-facilities-survivors. Somewhere else in California? Last option in the first question, and say where.

Questions people are asking

Can I sue for abuse at Los Padrinos?

You'd sue the County of Los Angeles, which runs it. 279 people did in December 2022 naming Los Padrinos among six County facilities, six more did in federal court on September 8, 2026, three of them describing Los Padrinos around 2001 to 2003, and the County has settled more than 11,000 claims across its halls, camps and MacLaren. Whether you can depends mostly on your birth year and when it happened, which is what the questions above sort out.

Who qualifies for the LA County juvenile hall settlement?

Nobody new. The $4 billion and $828 million settlements resolved claims that were already filed; there's no fund to apply to and no claims deadline. A new case is filed on its own, in court, the way the six plaintiffs did in September 2026. If you already signed on to a settlement, say so on the call and nobody wastes your time.

I was at High Desert, not an LA hall. Does this cover me?

Yes, with a different defendant: the County of San Bernardino, not Los Angeles. 136 former detainees sued it in May 2026 naming High Desert among three of its halls, and 123 more filed in August. San Bernardino has settled nothing, so L.A.'s $4 billion says nothing about your case; what applies is the same California rule on your birth year. Pick High Desert in the first question. Kearny Mesa works the same way, with San Diego County as the defendant.

Is there a deadline?

Depends when it was, and when you were born. If it was before 2024 the clock runs to your 40th birthday, or five years past the day you connected what happened to what it did to you, whichever is later; born in 1987 or later and you're inside it on age alone. From January 1, 2024 on there's no deadline at all. And against a county there's no six-month government claim to have missed. A lawyer confirms your dates. That's the call.

What does it cost?

Here, nothing. Every case is on contingency. The lawyer is paid only out of what is recovered, and if nothing is recovered you owe nothing. Not for the call, not for the review, not for the case.

Who sees your form

Kerim Eravci · Survivor Advocate · Not a lawyer

I was a victim, and I waited. Not because I didn't know what happened to me (I knew every day), but because I'd decided it was over, mine to carry, nobody's business. When I finally went looking for a lawyer, the answer came back in two words I'd never thought about: statute of limitations. My time had run out while I was busy getting through it.

What that has cost me since is a long story, and I'll tell you the whole thing in private, if you want it. The short version is the reason my name is on this page: I'm here to help people do what I wish I'd done, which is find out where you stand while the door's still open.

I'm not a lawyer. I read what you send, I call you once, on your terms, and nothing gets filed unless you say so. Ask sooner than I did.

Kerim Eravci is not an attorney. He's a survivor.

What happens next. Three steps, nothing more until you say so.

You answer 6 questions. Nothing is filed. Nothing starts.
A survivor calls you, once. Not a robot, not a call center. Someone who has been where you are.
You decide. You find out your options. If you want to stop there, you stop there.

How this works

ME2 Survivors Alliance protects the heart. Licensed California attorneys do the legal work. We are not lawyers and we don't pretend to be.

You never pay a dollar

Every case is on contingency. There is no charge for the call, the review, or the case. The firm is paid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing.

*Cash advances, where available, come from an independent litigation funding company, not from ME2 Survivors Alliance or any law firm, and are subject to that company's approval and terms. An advance is non-recourse: it is repaid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing. Amounts vary by case; the figure shown is the most that may be offered, not an offer, an approval or a determination that you qualify. Whether to take an advance is your decision and is never a condition of legal representation.