‘No one interfered’: Sex abuse in L.A. County juvenile halls in spotlight at Senate hearing

Testifying Wednesday before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, Breane Wingfield said she was 14 when, in 2005, she was sexually assaulted in a van by a deputy probation officer employed at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.

It happened again at a holding cell at the Compton Courthouse, she said. And again, almost daily, she alleged, by a guard at Camp Joseph Scott, a juvenile probation facility in Santa Clarita.

“No one interfered or protected us,” said Wingfield, 32, her voice cracking as she recounted the abuse. “I did what I needed to do to survive.”

Wingfield’s testimony came during a hearing titled “Sexual assault in U.S. prisons two decades after the Prison Rape Elimination Act.” Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), chair of the subcommittee on criminal justice and counterterrorism, said it’s clear that sexual violence has persisted despite the 2003 law, which aimed to eradicate rape of prisoners in correctional facilities across the country.

The hearing was meant to invite reflection on the law and explore possible improvements to reduce sexual abuse in carceral settings.

“We were all horrified when seven correctional officers, including the warden and [rape elimination act] coordinator, were sentenced for sexually abusing those in custody at FCI Dublin in California,” he said, referring to a high-profile conviction last year of employees at a women’s prison where sexual abuse was so rampant it was known as the “rape club.”

“I’m confident that the solutions we will explore today enjoy the same bipartisan, united response we saw 21 years ago.”

Wingfield’s testimony brings L.A. County’s abuse-plagued juvenile halls and camps to a national stage.

Sexual abuse within the county’s Probation Department has been in the local spotlight since 2020, when California passed a law providing victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to sue. Since then, the county has been flooded with claims of abuse from those placed in its sprawling network of foster homes, children’s shelters and probation camps and halls.

County officials have said some of the alleged incidents date as far back as the 1950s and many of the facilities have since closed.

The Probation Department declined to comment on Wingfield’s testimony, noting a policy of not commenting on pending litigation.

For years, victims say, the Probation Department tolerated unchecked sexual abuse at the camps and halls where they were confined. Many say they reported the abuse to higher-ups but were punished rather than protected. Abusers remained on the county payroll for years, the accusers’ attorneys allege.

At least 20 women have accused Thomas E. Jackson, then a deputy at the Santa Clarita juvenile camp, of molesting them starting in the late 1990s. Jackson resigned from the department last fall. The Times reported last year that the county had placed nearly two dozen staff members on leave after accusations of sexual violence.

County officials said last year that they were anticipating spending between $1.6 billion and $3 billion resolving the deluge of lawsuits from the then-3,000 plaintiffs. Some attorneys have argued that the county should set up a “sexual abuse survivors fund” to pay victims.

At the Senate hearing, witnesses included survivors of sexual assault, criminal justice experts and the head of a union representing prison staffers. Survivors said educational information given to inmates didn’t do enough to help them understand their rights or know what to do if they were abused. Witnesses also said staffing and resource shortages contributed to failures of the sexual abuse prevention law, and that auditors aren’t given enough time on site to adequately judge whether facilities are meeting the law’s standards.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) said he didn’t buy the idea that staffing shortages contributed to failures.

Booker agreed: “You’re scratching at a bigger issue, which is clearly the law that we designed is not working.”

Wingfield, who graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 2022, now works as a substitute teacher. She said the abuse still haunts her, and without health insurance she can’t afford a therapist.

“In moments where I have not seen a way out, I’ve had to call crisis hotline after hotline, grasping at anything to keep me alive,” she told the senators. “This investigation is long overdue, because the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 isn’t being enforced.”

Wingfield said testifying gave her some hope. She asked the senators to not just listen but to do something to end the cycle of suffering.

“This is the first step towards accountability,” said Courtney Thom, an attorney whose firm represents over 100 clients suing the county, including Wingfield. “Not only for the people who abuse children in the camps and juvenile halls, but also the entities that continue to allow this happen.”