LOS ANGELES _ Six Los Angeles County juvenile detention officers were charged with assault and child abuse Friday for using pepper spray on several teenage girls last year.
According to the charges brought by L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, the officers assigned to Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall were either unreasonable in how they used the spray or prevented the detainees from being able to properly clear their the chemical from their skin and eyes.
The six officers charged _ Marlene Rochelle Wilson, 46; Janeth Vilchez, 48; LaCour Harrison, 53; Claudette Reynolds, 57; Maria Asuzena Guerrero, 28; and Karnesha Marshall, 28 _ appeared in court Friday. Each will be arraigned next month.
The charges against the six officers range from felony assault to various misdemeanors.
The legal action follows months of controversy in Los Angeles County over the increase in pepper-spray use by on young detainees.
The spray is supposed to be used as a "last resort" to control violent and unruly youths.
But in early February, the county's Office of Inspector General issued a detailed review of activities inside juvenile halls, documenting potential misconduct by detention officers. It found that guards had inadequate training, supervision and accountability _ conditions that contributed to over-reliance on pepper spray.
The investigators also raised concerns about what they saw as a punitive culture inside the nation's largest juvenile probation operation, which includes more than 7,000 youths under community supervision and an average of 900 held in halls or camps.
The Los Angeles Times has reported that the use of pepper spray increased from 294 incidents in 2015 to 747 in 2017. More recent data showed usage began to level off in 2018.
In late February, the county Board of Supervisors voted to phase out the use of pepper spray by the end of this year.
The county Probation Department, which manages the detention and supervision of the thousands of juveniles in the county's criminal justice system, is approaching its deadline to devise a plan to stop using the spray, which causes burning and inflammation of the eyes, nose and skin.
"It totally validates our concern about the use of pepper spray in our halls," Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said of the charges against the six officers. "This kind of egregious behavior has to be charged, and I was not surprised given that these few people had gone beyond what was allowed with pepper spray."
Kuehl also said she remains concerned about any lingering pepper-spray use on juveniles, saying it's ineffective and destructive to the kind of relationship-building necessary to create a rehabilitative environment for the youths.
Wilson and Vilchez were charged with felony counts of assault by a public officer and misdemeanor counts of child abuse. Harrison and Reynolds were charged with assault by a public officer and cruelty to a child by endangering her health, a misdemeanor. Guerrero and Marshall were charged with cruelty to a child by endangering her health.
Payroll records show that the officers arrested had worked for the department for several years. Harrison, the only man charged, is a supervising detention officer.
Ian Kysel, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, said the charges show how tools such as pepper spray can be abused _ and are an indication that L.A. County's juvenile halls remain a dangerous environment.
"The Probation Department should take immediate steps to protect youth from the abusive use of chemical agents while it works to implement a countywide ban and enable staff to do so as soon as possible," he said.
