Pepper spray has no place in L.A. County's juvenile halls and camps [latimes.com]

Pepper spray is excruciatingly painful, according to firsthand reports by many former L.A. County juvenile hall and probation camp inmates, and inflicts its torture on contact with the skin and especially the eyes, nose and mouth. As used by the staff, it causes a burning pain that continues as its victims are detained, away from the working sinks and showers that are needed to “decontaminate,” or wash the chemicals off. And the pain returns at night, the youths say, as chemicals absorbed by the skin are sweated out and burn all over again.

Pepper spray — or, more formally, oleoresin capsicum — is the Probation Department’s last-resort response to fights or other violence at several of the county’s facilities. Protocols require a host of de-escalation measures before resorting to the spray.

But a report presented Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors notes that in numerous instances, probation staff pepper-sprayed juveniles who posed no threat of violence. Some staffers violated policy by spraying youth who were taking prescribed psychotropic medication. Staff are required to issue warnings before using the spray, yet the report notes that some simply make blanket warnings as they begin each shift, leaving the juveniles in their care constantly anxious because they don’t know what behavior might trigger a spray attack. Some staff have taken to shaking their spray cans merely to intimidate youths. According to reports from some youth in the halls and camps, officers have on occasion set off their spray cans accidentally.