Pepper spray still used every day in LA County juvenile halls, despite supervisors’ orders to stop

When Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall reopened in July 2023, probation officers arriving for their first shifts were forced to surrender the pepper spray canisters they had relied on to combat fights and unruly youth at other juvenile facilities.

“There will be no pepper spray at this location,” Felicia Cotton, then-acting chief deputy of the Los Angeles Probation Department, had plainly vowed during a July 13 presentation to the Probation Oversight Commission.

The agency saw Los Padrinos...