NEW ORLEANS

Housing juveniles with prisoners is criminal

Chief Judge David Bell with the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court spent the five days preceding Hurricane Katrina releasing pre-trial juveniles in New Orleans detention centers deemed not to be threats to society. Apparently his releases were not executed. Many juvenile inmates were inexplicably and improperly sent to Orleans Parish Prison instead of being evacuated from harm’s way. Medical Director Heidi Sinclair said many of the juvenile inmates were traumatized by the experience.

The Louisiana juvenile justice system is separated into two sections — prisons, where convicted offenders serve time, and detention centers, where the accused wait to be charged and tried. The populations should not mix even if adults only are involved. Mixing in juvenile offenders with adult inmates is criminal. The three juvenile facilities — Bridge City, Jetson Correctional Center for Youth in Baton Rouge and Swanson Correctional Center for Youth in Monroe — are operated by the state while the detention centers are controlled by parishes. The city of New Orleans controls two, the New Orleans Youth Study Center and the Conchetta Youth Center at Orleans Parish Prison.

When Hurricane Katrina entered the Gulf of Mexico, 183 juveniles were incarcerated in three New Orleans-area correctional facilities. Only those in the New Orleans detention centers were housed with adult prisoners. This is an inexcusable breach of duty. The Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana said the 100 juveniles transferred to OPP spent up to four days in rising floodwaters with little food or water amid violence and chaos.

The Louisiana Legislature passed the Juvenile Justice Reform Act in 2003 following complaints of widespread abuse throughout the state-run juvenile justice system. But it did not address the city- and parish-operated detention centers as they were not part of the original lawsuit. A standardized statewide plan for evacuating all juvenile inmates should be implemented. The city and state must be held responsible for these minors. The city has not replaced the court’s three flood-damaged vans so it still can’t transport juveniles out of the city in case of a hurricane. This unconscionable oversight should be corrected before June 1 by the city administration.

Editorial
8 May 2006

http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=15517
 

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