Lawmakers disapprove of detention center evacuation to adult prison

By Rachel Mipro
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Two New Orleans state lawmakers called for changes Thursday to the city’s juvenile detention center evacuation policy after 36 teenagers were sent to an adult prison for five days around Hurricane Ida.

Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, said she thought the public needs an explanation about why the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center went to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, a men’s prison, in St. Gabriel.

“In light of state and federal law that seem to expressly prohibit this situation, the public should be told as soon as possible how and why this happened, and what the emergency plans are for this facility the next time it needs to be evacuated,” Landry said in a written statement. “Since it’s hurricane season, there needs to be a new evacuation plan in place immediately.”

Rep. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, said the juvenile detention center’s evacuation raised many questions.

“Hurricane evacuation plans for situations like this should be clear cut and well defined. But many questions remain. If other parishes evacuated their youth detainees to other youth facilities, why did Nola send their children to an adult facility? If Nola was an outlier we should at least know why,” Duplessis said in a written statement.

“Even if the kids were separated from adults, we know that adult prisons are licensed by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, while juvenile pretrial detention centers are licensed by the Department of Children and Family Services. Therefore, these children could have been subjected to standards that do not meet the legal standards for juvenile pretrial detention,” he said.

Louisiana Illuminator (www.lailluminator.com) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization.

This article originally published in the September 20, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.