Juveniles being housed at Louisiana State Penitentiary routinely spend about three days in solitary confinement when they arrive there, leaving their cells for only eight minutes a day to shower, according to federal court records.
The allegations were contained in a memorandum in support of a preliminary injunction in the Middle District of Louisiana. The ACLU National Prison Project and civil rights attorneys filed the lawsuit last year against Gov. John Bel Edwards, the deputy secretary of the state Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) and other officials in a bid to halt the governor’s plan to house juvenile offenders on the grounds of the maximum-security adult prison.
The July 18 memorandum alleges state officials broke promises to the court assuring that the youth would receive adequate education services, counseling and sufficient staffing to guide their rehabilitation. In reality, days-long solitary confinement was used for discipline, juveniles were shackled during recreational activities and they were subjected to excessive heat during their incarceration.
The OJJ, however, defended the treatment of youths housed at the prison, which is located in Angola.
“While we cannot discuss the details of a pending lawsuit, the Office of Juvenile Justice can confirm that all of the units at the West Feliciana Center for Youth are air-conditioned and believes that the youth at the center are receiving the care they need with very specific and targeted treatments in accordance with the transitional treatment unit guidelines to ensure that both the youth and staff are safe,” OJJ spokeswoman Nicolette Gordon said in an email to the Louisiana Record.
In September of last year, the federal court denied a plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order against the Angola youth program. Plaintiffs, who were held at Angola, argued the site was unsuitable for juvenile housing and that encounters between the youths and adult prisoners were inevitable because the adult prisoners’ labor was needed to maintain the grounds and keep the prison operating.
“It is time to stop (the) defendants from continuing to inflict irreparable harm on children in their care at Angola, and redirect their efforts toward improving their other juvenile detention facilities,” the motion for a preliminary injunction states.
The memorandum argues that housing juvenile offenders in an adult facility with high fences, razor wire and guard towers increases the suicide risks for the youths.