Juvenile Hall’s Certification Restored After Quick Changes : Regulations: The county adds bedding for about 200 youths who had been sleeping on the floor, hires new teachers and upgrades medical services.

DOWNEY —  Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall won back its state certification earlier this week after quickly assembling new bedding for about 200 youths, hiring new teachers and arranging for improved medical services.

The California Youth Authority decertified the overcrowded, 33-year-old facility last week because, among other things, minors were sleeping on the floor and it failed to meet fire safety codes.

Youth Authority inspectors Monday night recertified Los Padrinos, which is near Downey’s western border with South Gate, after finding that the facility satisfied most state requirements.

The Downey Fire Department gave the facility a temporary clearance, allowing the county time to install a backup generator for emergency lighting and power.

A Youth Authority official said his agency is satisfied that the facility complies sufficiently with state rules.

“We will do on-site visits and monitoring on follow-up basis,” said Rito Rosa, CYA regional administrator.

In May, inspectors found that up to 200 wards had been sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor. Los Padrinos is designed to hold 401 minors, but it recently has held up to 741 youths.

They also found that minors were not given health examinations within 72 hours, as required by the state. And there were too few teachers.

The Downey Fire Department had been urging county officials to install the emergency generator since October, 1988, Capt. Dennis Lockard said. Last year, the city began asking the Probation Department to eliminate overcrowding at the facility.

“We’re worried about exiting, not only in a fire but in any kind of emergency, such as an earthquake,” he said.

The Youth Authority had given the Probation Department 60 days to correct the problems and finally decertified the facility last week.

Gene DeSoto, deputy director of detention services, said the county had been working for weeks to correct the problems but could not meet the deadline.

The decertification made Los Angeles County vulnerable to liability lawsuits. It also raised the possibility that potentially dangerous minors would be released.

County officials scrambled to put Los Padrinos in order. They set up a makeshift mattress factory and produced hundreds of extra-thick mattresses that would keep the wards at least 12 inches off the floor, as required by the state.

They assigned two more teachers to the facility and arranged for the county Department of Health Services to increase personnel to provide health examinations within 72 hours, DeSoto said.

“We are in compliance,” he said.

The Downey Fire Department has given the Probation Department until June, 1991, to install the emergency generator, Fire Chief Ron Irwin said.

Fire officials are negotiating with the county over capacity. The county recently transferred more than 200 wards to two county camps in Antelope Valley, dropping the Los Padrinos population to 551 on Tuesday, DeSoto said.

“We’ve got to come up with some kind of agreement,” Irwin said. “We have to make sure it’s safe, that we don’t have some tragedy over there.”

But DeSoto said it could be difficult to strictly limit the population, as Downey officials would like, because more youths are entering the juvenile jail system.

“That’s very difficult to guarantee,” DeSoto said. “If Downey (police) bring in three teen-agers charged with murder, by law we must hold them.”