BATON ROUGE — The Task Force on Juvenile Justice Facility Standards met at the Louisiana State Capitol to discuss its recommendations on juvenile justice for the coming session. During the meeting Wednesday, committee members discussed the ongoing concern for lack of individual assessments and the Office of Juvenile Justice’s lack of staff.
The Task Force was created to recommend standards for juvenile detention centers based on best practices that are to be implemented by the Department of Children and Family Services. The current committee is chaired by Senator Beth Mizell.
Task Force Recommendations to the Legislature
At the Jan. 31, 2024 meeting, several committee members emphasized their recommendations for the legislature during the upcoming session. The numerous topics included:
- Lack of staff at OJJ
- Comprehensive individual assessments for children
- More review hearings so children have access to attorneys and the courts
- Lack of resources in the facilities; including funding
- Children staying in the facilities longer than necessary
- Lack of funding impacts the public defenders who can represent the children
- Advocates against trying 17 year olds as adults for misdemeanor crimes
- Criticism that the current system does not help with rehabilitation
These recommendations will be presented in a report to the legislature during session. The recommendations can be utilized to create more task forces, enact legislation creating new standards, and/or encourage evaluation of current practices.
Committee members’ opinions
One committee member, Mr. Harrell emphasized the lack of staffing at OJJ causing a lot of issues at the facilities, which may be from underfunding.
Mr. Harrell referenced the procedures utilized in Texas, and how that system has been successful. In the Texas juvenile system they are prohibited from sending kids who were adjudicated for misdemeanors to be sent to the state system. This dropped the population by 30% in the state system. Within 90 days of the child being incarcerated, they would host a hearing to give the Director of Texas Youth Commission a recommendation for treatment of the child.
Overall, the committee agrees that the system does not assess individual needs of children. Senator Mizell stated it was “eye opening” to see how the children were housed, and that there were no individual assessments for the children. The children are all given the same standards to follow despite their situations being unique.
Mr. Pittman, a committee member, said that there needs to be better assessment of how long children are in the facilities. There are children who are low risk who are stuck in these facilities way longer than the 9 month recommended period. There are issues when children are told they can be released but don’t actually get released. He suggests that there needs to be an investigation into the broader issues at OJJ.
Ms. Jordan, a committee member, believes that the focus for juvenile facility reform should be centered around education. There were rooms with children in various grades all in the same room. This does not meet the individual children’s needs in education.
Access to Justice
Around five years ago, the Louisiana Legislature passed what is known as the “Raise the Age” policy that raised the age that children could be tried as juveniles to 17 years old. Proponents of the legislation maintain that children do not develop proper judgement skills until their brain develops at 25 years old. Under current law, District Attorneys have the discretion to try 17 year olds as adults when they commit violent crimes such as rape and murder.
Recently, a debate was sparked about housing juveniles who commit crimes after David Atkins and Willie Jackson escaped from the Baton Rouge Detention Center on Nov. 25. The duo exploited a faulty door for their exit. Atkins had been recaptured just 10 days prior after escaping with another teenager, Jeremiah Green, on Nov. 14 from the same facility. The Baton Rouge Juvenile Detention Center underwent a lot of scrutiny after the two teens escaped the facility twice.
“It is a s**thole,” said Councilman Aaron Moak.
The scrutiny at the Baton Rouge facility is just a small piece in the larger issues that Louisiana juvenile justice facilities face. The Task Force’s recommendations are due by February 15 for its report to the Louisiana Legislature.
Future of Juvenile Facilities
Mr. Harrell alluded to Senator Mizell that he anticipates legislative proposals that will potentially place juveniles in the adult prison facilities.
“It is impossible to retain staff. I don’t know why. It is dangerous to have children in adult facilities. More likely to be raped. Not get anything close to the juvenile system if they are in adult prison. By federal law you have to separate juveniles from adults. That would create an administrative nightmare at least in Orleans Parish. How do you staff that? We are trying to do the right thing to help children.” said Mr. Harrell.
Gina Womack, the director and co-founder of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC), spoke to the committee about the future of juvenile justice. Womack applauded the committee’s recommendations as being in line with the intentions from long ago. She emphasized “In order to have public safety, you must ensure that youth have access to the services they need. Building prisons isn’t going to help the situation.”
The Louisiana legislative session starts March 11, 2024. However, there may be a special session in February where this topic may be addressed.
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