A state-of-the-art juvenile prison in Avoyelles Parish has finally received state funding to open its doors — a long-awaited milestone for a Louisiana juvenile justice system that has seen crippling budget cuts and a rash of inmate escapes.
State lawmakers recently allocated $4 million to begin staffing the Acadiana Center for Youth in Bunkie, a 72-bed detention center considered critical to efforts to overhaul the way Louisiana treats violent teenagers.
The state Office of Juvenile Justice plans to open the $23 million prison in phases, with three dormitories — each housing a dozen youths — operating by early March.
The lockup, which has sat vacant for months, differs significantly from other juvenile prisons in the state because it was designed under the so-called Louisiana Model for Secure Care, a therapeutic approach based on the widely lauded "Missouri Model," which focuses more on rehabilitation than punishment.
"It's just kind of foolish that we waited so long to do this," said state Sen. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, who pushed lawmakers to include funding to open the facility in the recently approved budget. "This is something the state is almost 15 years behind schedule in doing."
The opening of the prison has taken on new urgency for several reasons.
First, Louisiana's juvenile justice system is preparing to absorb an influx of 17-year-olds as a result of the 2016 "raise the age" legislation.
An LSU study projected the state's juvenile prison population will grow by 67 youths by 2020, when 17-year-olds charged with violent crimes will no longer be prosecuted as adults. And beginning in March, an additional 300 17-year-olds charged with nonviolent crimes are expected to require community-based supervision from the juvenile system.
"We know we're going to need the additional capacity," said James Bueche, director of the Office of Juvenile Justice. "And we know we're going to need additional probation officers. If we don't get the resources for that, then (housing teens) in Acadiana becomes the only option."
With the delays in opening the new prison, the state also has been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars on an empty building. The Office of Juvenile Justice spent nearly $250,000 over the past two years on maintenance, the state Legislative Auditor's Office reported last month.
Another impetus for opening the prison has been the mounting security concerns at other juvenile prisons. Fights have been on the rise in those facilities, and jailbreaks have occurred at an alarming rate at the Swanson Center for Youth in Monroe.
The Monroe lockup has had at least five escapes this year. The same 16-year-old broke out of the facility three times over the course of a month. One of those incidents resulted in a guard being injured so severely he had to be airlifted to a hospital in Shreveport.
In the most recent escape, on July 2, the 16-year-old and two other inmates kicked down the door of the most secure dorm at Swanson, shattered a window of the main control center and stole the keys to two state vehicles.
State records show the youths then used the vehicles to "ram" the perimeter gate. Two of the teens drove more than 40 miles in a stolen pickup, making it halfway to Alexandria before they were recaptured by law enforcement.
Staffing shortages have afflicted the state's juvenile prisons for years. But Bueche, in a recent interview, attributed the July 2 escape to correctional officers "letting their guard down" and failing to follow policies. An investigation of the incident is continuing, and Bueche did not rule out discipline for guards working at Swanson at the time.
"What we're seeing now is just a lack of staff doing what they needed to do," he said. "If our protocols were followed, we're fairly certain it wouldn't have happened."
Meanwhile, an inmate at the Bridge City Center for Youth was arrested last week on allegations of raping a fellow inmate inside a bathroom at the facility. Jireh Martin, 18, was booked Thursday on a count of second-degree rape.
The Bridge City center has been the scene of many violent incidents and security breaches in recent years.
The opening of the new prison in Avoyelles Parish will allow the state to begin transferring some teens out of Swanson, a dilapidated facility that Bueche said is ill-equipped to house juvenile delinquents.
Officials have attempted to bolster security at Swanson following the recent escapes. But Bueche said the physical plant has a number of limitations and presents challenges in part because it is so large. He said staffers sometimes have to respond from "100 yards away" to intervene in a crisis.
"When you talk about a modern correctional facility that comes with appropriate security doors and all the things that go along with it, (Swanson) was not built with that intention in mind," Bueche said.
By contrast, he said, the Acadiana Center for Youth in Bunkie has a "footprint that's a whole lot more compressed."
"It looks nice," Bueche said," and it's ready to occupy."
LaFleur, the state senator, said the Bunkie facility "has all the bells and whistles" and will "probably be one of the premier (juvenile prisons) in the country for some time."
He said the opening will have a "huge impact" on the surrounding community. The state plans to hire nearly 80 new employees to staff the detention center.
"We didn't do it just because of economic growth," LaFleur said, "but I'm very happy to have Bunkie welcome it the way that it did."
