LA County's Snake-Pits for Children

For more than a decade, kids in LA County's 14 camps for juvenile offenders have committed suicide, died from untreated illnesses, been jumped into gangs and held in solitary confinement without mental health treatment. Three years ago, federal monitors demanded 41 reforms to prevent child abuse, required staff to work a 40-hour week, not to drink on the job and to effectively rehabilitate the young people in their custody. On Monday the Probation Department missed the deadline to put those reforms into effect. Department Chief Don Blevins has been forced out after only a year on the job and a replacement will take his place in December.