Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall and Secure Youth Treatment Facility (SYTF) serve detained youth in the juvenile justice system. The Juvenile Hall provides a temporary, secure, and structured environment for pre-disposition young people awaiting court hearings or placement, while the SYTF offers longer term care for post disposition youth. Both are operated by the Los Angeles County Probation Department, and each program provides education, counseling, and life skills programs designed to support rehabilitation and prepare youth for a successful return to the community.
About Barry J. Nidorf JUVENILE HALL AND SECURE YOUTH TREATMENT FACILITY
Purpose & Operations
Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall is a short-term, secure holding facility for youth awaiting court hearings, placement, or short-term sentencing. BJN provides education, counseling, and structured activities while ensuring safety and compliance with court orders. The focus is on stabilization and assessment, not long-term incarceration, as judges determine appropriate next steps such as probation, release, or transfer to another program. Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall re-opened August 2025.
Average Stay Duration: 7 to 23 days, but each case varies based on legal proceedings.
Barry J. Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment is a long-term, high-security rehabilitation program for youth who commit serious or violent offenses. BJN-SYTF’s focus is on education, therapy, vocational training, and reentry preparation rather than punishment. Youth stay for extended periods under individualized treatment plans and regular court review. The goal is to provide intensive rehabilitation and help youth successfully reintegrate into the community.
Duration of care is determined by the court. Each case varies.
Detention Process & Court Proceedings
Once detained, youth must appear before a judge to determine if continued custody is required.
The court considers:
- Severity of the offense and criminal history.
- Risk to the community and rehabilitation needs.
- Alternative placement options like probation or community programs.
Barry J. Nidorf Facilities History
Established in 1965 as Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall (BJNJH), the facility housed pre-dispositioned youth and high-risk offenders in northeast Los Angeles County. On July 17, 2023, it transitioned to the Barry J. Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Facility (BJN-SYTF) following Senate Bill 823, which closed the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice. This shift allows high risk youth to be rehabilitated locally under juvenile court jurisdiction. BJN-SYTF focuses on rehabilitation, offering programs to help youth develop skills, complete their treatment, and reintegrate into society successfully.
Who was Barry J. Nidorf?
Barry J. Nidorf was a former chief of probation for Los Angeles County who developed programs for juvenile offenders that included crime prevention strategies as well as punishment and who trained so many other justice professionals that he was known by colleagues as “Mr. Probation.”
As chief of probation from 1984 to 1997, Nidorf introduced the first juvenile boot camps in the nation, starting with Camp Munz and Camp Mendenhall near Lake Hughes in 1991. He formed partnerships with Los Angeles-area businesses to provide literacy training for boot camp inmates.
Early studies indicated that only about 25% of youths who finished their sentences at the camps became repeat offenders, less than half the rate of typical juvenile offenders. The program became a national model.
Nidorf’s department, the largest of its kind in the nation, included more than 4,000 employees supervising 80,000 adults and 16,000 juvenile offenders.
The year after he retired, an existing detention center in Sylmar was renamed in his honor.
Mr. Nidorf passed away in 2004 at the age of 63.