Louisiana officials removed juvenile inmates from a controversial holding facility on the grounds of the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola on Friday, but the legal battle surrounding the conditions at the facility is continuing.
Federal Judge Shelly Dick of the Western District of Louisiana last week ordered state officials to remove juvenile detainees at the West Feliciana Center for Youth, which was located on the former death row at Angola, concluding that the conditions there were abusive and violated the youths’ constitutional rights.
The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) announced Friday that all the youths had been removed from the Angola facility and placed temporarily at a juvenile justice facility in Jackson Parish. That announcement came in the wake of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issuing a temporary hold on Dick’s preliminary injunction and giving plaintiffs a chance to respond to the emergency stay.
“OJJ intends to move forward with our appeal of the recent ruling by the U.S. District Court,” the agency said in a prepared statement. “OJJ continues to disagree with the court’s ruling, which we believe contained several findings about the conditions at the West Feliciana Center for Youth that are at odds with the facts.”
The OJJ described the Angola facility as a needed but temporary solution to deal with security issues at the agency’s facilities across Louisiana that posed a threat to staff members and youths alike.
David Utter, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said attorneys have filed a response to the administrative stay of Dick’s order and will continue to litigate the issues.
“The state made a bunch of allegations and attached a bunch of declarations that purported to show that the world would end if stay wasn't granted," Utter told the Louisiana Record, adding that the issues the state brought up in the appeals court filing should have been raised at the district court level.
““OJJ and Louisiana have been blaming the young people for the failings of the system from the get-go, from the start of this action,” he said. “... (Judge Dick) heard seven days of evidence and issued a very thoughtful opinion.”
The state has not indicated any plans to put juvenile offenders back in the Angola facility, according to Utter.
“The plaintiffs are pleased (that the juveniles were removed) … and very grateful that no more kids are being held at that facility and subject to the harm that those kids were being subjected to,” he said.