The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

The Vicksburg Post
Vicksburg, MS

May 8, 2005

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Tallulah could be leader, not follower

By Damon T. Hewitt, guest columnist

ŒI know that we can do better. If given the choice, any civic-minded Louisianian would choose more education over more prisons.¹

The people of Tallulah are waging a battle to reclaim their future. They want to rid their town of the notorious Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth and replace it with a regional educational center that will serve the poorest parishes of Louisiana.

If they are successful, their achievement will not only usher in a new chapter of hope and opportunity in the life of the impoverished town of Tallulah, but will also establish Louisiana as a leader in reversing the insidious national trend of funding incarceration at the expense of education.

In its heyday, the privately owned Tallulah prison was known as one of the most brutal in the nation. But in many ways it was no different from most juvenile institutions across the country that warehouse children who get into trouble as a result of years of emotional and educational neglect. And like the other institutions, it was also doomed to fail the very children it was designed to serve.

With the prison¹s harsh conditions and well-documented abuses, it never provided youth with the services and attention they needed to overcome the circumstances that led them to crime in the first place. The state eventually assumed control of the privately owned prison; the governor and the Legislature rightly shut it down in 2004.

In addition to failing to rehabilitate its incarcerated youth, the prison also failed to bring economic development to the town. The people of Tallulah permitted the prison to be built because of promises that it would bring prosperity to the area by providing much-needed jobs to residents. But in the end, like so many other prisons across the country, the Tallulah facility generated little employment and actually did more harm than good by lowering property values, stifling economic development and scaring away potential investors.

Tallulah is ready for a change. After the last children were removed, the town¹s residents had a vision to transform the facility into an educational center that would not only create jobs for the town and the surrounding parishes of Madison, Tensas and East Carroll, but also provide educational opportunities for the area¹s youth.

The people of Tallulah began to realize their vision when the Louisiana Legislature passed and Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed Senate Bill 785. Championed by Sen. Charles Jones, D-Monroe, the bill authorized conversion of the facility into an educational center. However, an infamous ³cooperative endeavor agreement² between the state and the facility¹s owners, requiring the state to pay millions of dollars per year in debt service for a facility it does not own, stands in the way. Now the Department of Public Safety and Corrections is converting the facility into an adult prison, over the objections of the community and contrary to the intention behind Senate Bill 785.

As a Louisiana native, I know that our state deserves better. I know that we can do better. If given the choice, any civic-minded Louisianian would choose more education over more prisons. Louisiana must not miss this golden opportunity to improve the economic prospects of a depressed region, and to be a leader among states in turning back the disastrous tide of funding incarceration in lieu of education.

It is time for Gov. Blanco to bring the parties involved in the cooperative endeavor agreement to the table to negotiate the state out of this quagmire and to bring the people¹s vision to fruition. By doing so, the governor will be sending an important message to states and prison towns across the country that it is not too late to invest wisely.

Damon T. Hewitt is a civil rights attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. Mail reaches him at 99 Hudson St., Suite 1600, New York, NY 10013.
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