Juvenile Prisons' Fate Considered

By VICKI FERSTEL

The question of how to reform Louisiana's juvenile justice system played out Wednesday before the state Senate Judiciary B Committee.

Should the state close the juvenile prison in Tallulah and spend $20 million to buy and expand the empty prison at Jena?

Or, should the state close Tallulah and redirect funding to community programs?

Officials attending the hearing agreed on one thing: The decisions must rest on further research.

According to preliminary research released Wednesday, Louisiana ranks second in the nation, South Dakota is first, in its rate of juveniles jailed.

In Louisiana, 73 percent of the 1,400 offenders in the state-run juvenile prisons are serving their first terms in state custody and are serving for nonviolent crimes.

Those are the findings of Tim Roche, deputy director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a private, nonprofit organization with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Judiciary B Committee Chairman Donald R. Cravins, D-Arnaudville, asked Roche to conduct the study.

Roche said states such as Missouri that have broadened their community programs and reduced juvenile prisons are experiencing more drastic declines in juvenile crime than Louisiana.

State Corrections Secretary Richard Stalder said Roche's figures may be misleading because many of the juveniles listed as nonviolent offenders have histories of violence even if the crimes for which they were sentenced were nonviolent.

Stalder, however, agreed to the committee's request to research the criminal backgrounds of a random sampling of 100 juveniles in state custody.

Stalder also said another consultant will be in Louisiana next month to evaluate the projected prison bed needs at the juvenile prisons in Baton Rouge, Tallulah, Bridge City and Monroe.

"My suggestion is: You simply cannot turn the light on and off," Stalder said in calling for a transition period before closing prisons.

David Utter, executive director of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, said the Tallulah prison -- officially known as the Swanson Correctional Center for Youth, Madison Campus -- remains an unsafe place for juveniles.

The Juvenile Justice Project, a nonprofit law firm, represents some of the plaintiffs in the civil-rights litigation over the state's operation of the juvenile prisons.

Stalder said the state is meeting most of the settlement's prison improvement requirements.

Utter, however, said violence at the Tallulah prison remains a concern. He said more than 25 percent of the 408 juveniles at the Tallulah prison report to the prison infirmary each month with violence-related injuries.

Stalder challenged Utter's assertion, but said he'll investigate it further.

The private 700-bed Tallulah prison opened Nov. 18, 1994, but serious problems led to a number of state takeovers before a final, permanent takeover on Sept. 21, 1999.

Last year, a state legislative audit report revealed that the prison's private owners received more than $8.7 million in dividends and salaries since 1995.

That report led to the Legislature's decision last year to slash $1 million from the $4.4 million proposed for the Tallulah lease.

The $3.4 million "barely pays the principal, interest and taxes" that the investors owe on the prison, Verdi Adam of Baton Rouge said last week. Adam, George A. Fischer of Metairie and James R. Brown of Tallulah are the principal investors in FBA, the firm that owns the Tallulah prison.

The Legislature can end the contract by voting down the appropriation.

"A logical, common-sense decision would be to close the place down," Committee Chairman Cravins said after Wednesday's meeting.

During the 2001 regular legislative session, Cravins and state Sen. Noble Ellington, D-Winnsboro, introduced a resolution requesting Stalder to enter into good-faith discussions on the suitability and cost-effectiveness of buying the Jena prison.

The 276-bed prison, owned by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., opened in December 1998 and closed April 5, 2000, after serious problems led to a temporary state takeover.

Margaret Pearson, vice president of corporate communications for Wackenhut, said last week the buyout proposal is premature. "We haven't had discussions of price or terms, yet."

Ellington said last week he wants the state to make some use of the empty Jena prison, which sits in his district. "It was a tremendous blow," Ellington said of the prison's closure.

Cravins said he originally supported buying the Jena prison because it would be cheaper in the long-run than leasing the Tallulah prison. He has since changed his mind.

"When we have to use juveniles as an economic development tool, it's disgraceful," Cravins said of the studies examining the effect of the prisons on the economies of Madison and LaSalle parishes.

State Sen. Jay Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge, who sits on the Judiciary B panel and chairs the Finance Committee, said his interest in the Jena proposal is to improve juvenile services without spending more state money.

"What I'm not interested in is simply picking up, relocating and maintaining the same level of dysfunction," Dardenne said.

State Sen. Charles Jones, D-Monroe, said he's concerned about the economic effect of closing the Tallulah prison, but he's also concerned about the state jailing so many nonviolent juvenile offenders.

"We need to have a comprehensive, strategic piece of legislation to address this avalanche of sending these children to prison who are nonviolent first-offenders," Jones said.