The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

"While many things have improved in the facilities, there remains the intractable problem of violence and neglect. Scores of kids are being hurt and traumatized due to violence every month," Utter told the Juvenile Justice Implementation Commission Friday.

The panel, which has overseen efforts to reform the system, heard almost universal accolades from juvenile justice experts about the transformation led by Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

Utter agrees that the "progress has been phenomenal." But he said Blanco needs to address the violence issue more directly.

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For instance, 63 of the 175 youngsters incarcerated at the Jetson Correctional Center for Youth near Baker were injured in fights during February. In February 2004, when the facility had a population of 265 inmates, violence injured 67 minors.

"You have almost the same number of injuries but 90 fewer kids. Jetson is actually more violent than it was a year ago," Utter said in an interview after the hearing.

Utter called on Blanco to fire Nathan Davis, Jetson's interim director, and to immediately release all juvenile inmates who are not adjudged a threat to public safety.

Blanco administration officials agreed that violence is bad and changes need to be made.

But Blanco's top juvenile justice aides say the changes are occurring, maybe not fast enough for Utter, but as fast as is reasonable.

Kim Hunter Reed, Blanco's director of policy and planning, said: "It's on our radar. We have a serious problem. We're aware of that. The governor is aware of it. She asked about it today."

Reed said, "We are certainly aware that we need new leadership at Jetson." Davis' appointment was interim and the administration is in the midst of a nationwide hunt for a new director for the Jetson juvenile prison, she said.

Simon Gonsoulin, Blanco's head of the Office of Youth Services, said he daily reviews violence statistics that show information such as where the incidents occur, time of day, staff on duty.

"We're looking for reasons. We're looking for possible solutions everyday," Gonsoulin said.

One reason for the violence rates could be that as more nonviolent offenders are being diverted to treatment programs, a higher percentage of the prison's remaining population is violent. Seventy-two percent of the incarcerated population need anger-management treatment, he said.

Gonsoulin said his office is drafting a plan on how to close Jetson and the state's juvenile prison in Monroe and replace the facilities with smaller, home-like dorms that focus on treatment. He said the plan should be ready this fall.

Louisiana, like most states, imprisons youngsters the same way as adult criminals. The levels of violence in Louisiana facilities caught the attention of international humans-rights groups in the early 1990s.

Utter's Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana sued the state claiming the violence, and the conditions that caused them, violated state and federal law. In the September 2000 settlement, the state agreed to improve a number of items in order to keep the federal court from taking over the juvenile prisons.

Blanco has pushed to shift the focus from incarceration to treatment. Her initiatives have gone far beyond what is called for in the settlement, Reed said.
http://2theadvocate.com/stories/041605/new_juvenile001.shtml