Imconfused
02-18-2003, 10:34 AM
Closure of La. juvenile prison urged
Lawmaker, judge pushing new system
Friday February 14, 2003
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer
Louisiana should close the juvenile prison at Tallulah to make way for a new juvenile justice system that offers more treatment and less incarceration, a top judge and New Orleans lawmaker said Thursday.
Tallulah, formally known as Swanson Correctional Center for Youth, Madison Parish Unit, built in 1994 with a fleet of maximum-security single cells, symbolizes what the state does wrong in handling young offenders, they said: It's punitive, expensive and ineffective.
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"The idea of Tallulah is the problem," said state Rep. Mitch Landrieu, D-New Orleans, at a breakfast forum at the Wyndham New Orleans at Canal Place sponsored by the Bureau of Governmental Research. "You put children who should not be in prison in prison, and you spend more on them than it would cost you to do better with them somewhere else."
When the Legislature opens its session March 31, juvenile justice is expected to draw heated debate, particularly over whether to close one of the state's four prisons. State corrections officials say a facility such as Tallulah is needed for disruptive and violent teens.
Landrieu, who heads a legislative commission formed in 2001 to review juvenile justice, was joined by Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Chief Judge C. Hearn Taylor in blasting Tallulah as a solution to juvenile crime.
The judge decried Louisiana's juvenile justice system as one that "produces a place that throws kids through plate-glass windows," a reference to reports of guard-on-inmate abuses at the Tallulah prison.
"We've not done well by our youth in a long time," Taylor said.
While wanting the prison shut down, Taylor said he has concerns about the economic impact on the northeast Louisiana city, which has a population of 9,100. The prison employs more than 400 people.
"That is a major, major industry in that town," Taylor said. "I think it needs to be closed, it's not that I want to hurt that city."
Tallulah opened in 1994 as a for-profit prison. The state took it over in 1999, after a federal civil rights lawsuit found rampant abuse and neglect of the young inmates.
As part of a sweeping settlement, the state has added school buildings, staff and other programs to the prison and dramatically cut the population down to about 240 inmates. At one time, Tallulah held more than 600 inmates.
Juvenile advocates and some lawmakers have called for the state to close the prison and spend the savings, an estimated $20 million, on residential treatment centers closer to offenders' home towns. But corrections officials say the Tallulah prison is the only suitable place to hold dangerous juveniles.
Landrieu said reform hinges on the governor.
"This thing is going to lay in Gov. Foster's lap this session," he said.
Gov. Foster hasn't made any final decisions yet, awaiting the recommendations of the Landrieu-led task force, an aide said Thursday.
"We're looking at the practical consequences of what would happen if you were to close the facility and what you would do with all the kids there now," said Patrick Martin, the governor's assistant executive counsel.
Louisiana spends $89 million each year on juvenile incarceration, or about $160 a day per inmate -- not including academic and vocational classes and other training. Rehabilitative services could cost as little as $85 per day per youth, advocates say.
More than 1,300 juvenile delinquents are serving prison time in Louisiana
Closure of La. juvenile prison urged
Lawmaker, judge pushing new system
Lawmaker, judge pushing new system
Friday February 14, 2003
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer
Louisiana should close the juvenile prison at Tallulah to make way for a new juvenile justice system that offers more treatment and less incarceration, a top judge and New Orleans lawmaker said Thursday.
Tallulah, formally known as Swanson Correctional Center for Youth, Madison Parish Unit, built in 1994 with a fleet of maximum-security single cells, symbolizes what the state does wrong in handling young offenders, they said: It's punitive, expensive and ineffective.
From Our Advertiser
"The idea of Tallulah is the problem," said state Rep. Mitch Landrieu, D-New Orleans, at a breakfast forum at the Wyndham New Orleans at Canal Place sponsored by the Bureau of Governmental Research. "You put children who should not be in prison in prison, and you spend more on them than it would cost you to do better with them somewhere else."
When the Legislature opens its session March 31, juvenile justice is expected to draw heated debate, particularly over whether to close one of the state's four prisons. State corrections officials say a facility such as Tallulah is needed for disruptive and violent teens.
Landrieu, who heads a legislative commission formed in 2001 to review juvenile justice, was joined by Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Chief Judge C. Hearn Taylor in blasting Tallulah as a solution to juvenile crime.
The judge decried Louisiana's juvenile justice system as one that "produces a place that throws kids through plate-glass windows," a reference to reports of guard-on-inmate abuses at the Tallulah prison.
"We've not done well by our youth in a long time," Taylor said.
While wanting the prison shut down, Taylor said he has concerns about the economic impact on the northeast Louisiana city, which has a population of 9,100. The prison employs more than 400 people.
"That is a major, major industry in that town," Taylor said. "I think it needs to be closed, it's not that I want to hurt that city."
Tallulah opened in 1994 as a for-profit prison. The state took it over in 1999, after a federal civil rights lawsuit found rampant abuse and neglect of the young inmates.
As part of a sweeping settlement, the state has added school buildings, staff and other programs to the prison and dramatically cut the population down to about 240 inmates. At one time, Tallulah held more than 600 inmates.
Juvenile advocates and some lawmakers have called for the state to close the prison and spend the savings, an estimated $20 million, on residential treatment centers closer to offenders' home towns. But corrections officials say the Tallulah prison is the only suitable place to hold dangerous juveniles.
Landrieu said reform hinges on the governor.
"This thing is going to lay in Gov. Foster's lap this session," he said.
Gov. Foster hasn't made any final decisions yet, awaiting the recommendations of the Landrieu-led task force, an aide said Thursday.
"We're looking at the practical consequences of what would happen if you were to close the facility and what you would do with all the kids there now," said Patrick Martin, the governor's assistant executive counsel.
Louisiana spends $89 million each year on juvenile incarceration, or about $160 a day per inmate -- not including academic and vocational classes and other training. Rehabilitative services could cost as little as $85 per day per youth, advocates say.
More than 1,300 juvenile delinquents are serving prison time in Louisiana
Closure of La. juvenile prison urged
Lawmaker, judge pushing new system