Karen Fletcher, Los Angeles County’s interim chief probation officer, is stepping down after less than two months leading the county’s troubled Probation Department.
The Board of Supervisors promoted Fletcher to the department’s top spot in March after firing her predecessor, Chief Adolfo Gonzales. Her resignation letter to the board on Monday, May 1, states her last day will be May 19, and then she will use her “leave accruals until they are exhausted.”
“During the next three weeks, I will do everything possible to wrap up my duties and assist with this transition,” Fletcher wrote. “I wish the Department much success in the future.”
A Probation Department spokesperson said Fletcher would not provide an interview and that her resignation was a simple retirement following 34 years of employment.
Hans Liang, president of the L.A. County Deputy Probation Officers Union, wished Fletcher well in a statement.
“Probation officers appreciate the dedication and experience that Karen Fletcher brought to the department,” Liang stated. “Unfortunately, the tools necessary to move the Department forward were not provided.”
Fletcher’s exit comes at a precarious time for the department. The Board of State and Community Corrections is set to meet May 23 to decide whether to declare L.A. County’s two juvenile halls “unsuitable,” a designation that would force the department to immediately cure a series of deficiencies or shutter both facilities within 60 days.
The juvenile halls have faced nonstop controversies over the past year.
In December, nearly 300 former detainees alleged in lawsuits that they were sexually assaulted, harassed and abused while being held by the county.
Then, last month, the Office of the Inspector General found that lax security at the facilities had allowed illicit substances to be easily smuggled to the youths. Simultaneously, state inspectors have reported that an ongoing staffing crisis had left the juvenile halls without enough staff to consistently take the youths to the restroom overnight, to their classes or outdoors for recreation. Both staff and detainees have complained of violence in the halls.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently asked a judge to sanction L.A. County if it does not comply by August with the terms of a prior consent decree mandating reforms at the halls.
The BSCC initially was set to declare the Barry J. Nidorf and Central juvenile halls as “unsuitable” in early April, but the board instead decided to give L.A. County another month to begin implementing its proposed fixes.
Los Angeles County’s Probation Oversight Commission previously recommended the firing of both Gonzales and Fletcher back in February in response to the turmoil. The Board of Supervisors terminated Gonzales two weeks later, but allowed Fletcher, then-Gonzales’ chief deputy, to take the reins on an interim basis.
In response to Fletcher’s sudden resignation, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, May 2, delegated the authority to implement the juvenile hall reforms to Guillermo Viera Rosa, the county’s newly appointed chief strategist for juvenile operations, who assumed that role in mid-April. Viera Rosa, a former BSCC board member, previously served as the head of California’s Adult Parole Division.
The board’s new authorization allows Viera Rosa to hire consultants and use existing contracts to “come into compliance with applicable laws, regulations and settlement agreements, and appear in administrative proceedings on behalf of Probation,” including the county’s plan to address issues of noncompliance at Barry J. Nidorf and Central juvenile halls at the May 23 BSCC hearing.
The motion included a request for the Sheriff’s Department to deploy reserve officers to the juvenile halls to supplement the sworn staff.
The board met in closed session at the same meeting Tuesday to interview candidates for the job of chief of probation, but did not take any reportable actions.
In a statement, Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the reforms at the juvenile halls are still moving in “the right direction” despite Fletcher’s resignation.
“Turning around a department in crisis takes vision and grit — a tall order that will require an unrelenting leader committed to driving change. My focus remains on reforming Probation’s juvenile operations. That’s still moving forward with a clearly appointed leader who has developed a reform strategy that makes sense,’ Barger said, referencing Viera Rosa’s new role.
First District Supervisor Hilda Solis echoed Barger’s comments in a separate statement, saying the board’s actions on Tuesday set the probation department on a “realistic, pragmatic, and sustainable pathway — not just towards compliance — but as it relates to our youth’s safety and care.”
Solis, who has motioned for safety enhancements and for availability of Narcan at the juvenile facilities, said the corrective action plan submitted to the BSCC last month includes “strategies and swift actions to address the issues of staffing” at the juvenile halls.
“I have taken the concerns to heart and our Board, collectively, has been pushing the Probation Department to get into compliance immediately with both the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) regulations and the State DOJ consent decree,” she stated.