Advocates are asking a judge to remove a group of juvenile inmates being held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. A court filing alleges the young offenders are sleeping in hot conditions, they are isolated, and forced to shower while shackled and handcuffed.
“The situation of incarceration in Angola is emblematic of a larger systemic issue of juvenile justice in Louisiana as a whole,” said Southern Poverty Law Center senior policy analyst Delvin Davis.
The juveniles being housed at Angola were transferred there last year from the Bridge City Center for Youth, after multiple escapes and violent incidents within the juvenile facility. But state juvenile corrections officials have yet to find another facility for these inmates.
On the one-year anniversary of the state announcing plans to send incarcerated youth temporarily to Angola, SPLC released a report that offers recommendations to improve Louisiana’s youth justice system. Davis said one of their recommendations is to invest in community-based alternatives to youth incarceration that prioritizes rehabilitation.
“How can you think about juvenile justice in Louisiana differently that chooses care and rehabilitation instead of punishment and incarceration?” Dvais asked.
Davis said a major problem with the state’s youth justice system is that it is over-reliant on incarceration, which is ripe with abuse. He said there are other alternatives that focus on rehab.
The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice is not commenting on the legal fight to remove the incarcerated youth from Angola or the Southern Poverty Law Center’s recommendations for improving the state’s juvenile justice system.
