Prison problems return

• By SANDY DAVIS
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Apr 17, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:20 a.m.

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In May 2006, state officials stood before a federal judge and told him Louisiana’s juvenile prison system — once targeted by an international human-rights group as brutal and ineffective — was becoming a model for the nation.

 Citing the progress made, the judge freed the state’s largest juvenile prison, Jetson Center for Youth, from his control, ending an 8-year-old lawsuit over conditions in the state’s juvenile corrections system.

 State officials promised to shift toward less-punitive methods and create regional facilities where young offenders could get treatment and education in a safe environment.

 Two years later, those plans for reform are in shambles.

 Jetson has been plagued by violence, according to 10 months of incident reports and interoffice e-mails from 2007 examined by The Advocate.

 Youth-on-youth fights occurred regularly, rapes were reported and disputes between guards and juveniles often ended in violent confrontations.

 Jetson has lost its accreditation from the American Correctional Association, a respected prison-management group.

 Richard Thompson, the new head of the state's Office of Youth Development, which oversees the juvenile prison system, says Jetson has been "out of control."

 Several outside organizations that were key players in the systemwide reforms have pulled out, saying they can't deliver under the current conditions.

 And the meat of the reform effort - using smaller, regional centers to provide a safe environment for rehabilitation - never got off the ground. Not a single regional center has been opened.

Jetson examined
 Jetson was the last of the state's three juvenile prisons -the others were the Swanson and Bridge City youth centers - to be released from federal court oversight.

 Just north of Baton Rouge, Jetson is home to about 220 male offenders, ages 14 to 20. They are imprisoned for crimes ranging from purse snatching and drug offenses to murder and armed robbery.

 Over the past eight months, The Advocate examined more than 20,000 Jetson documents - including e-mails among Office of Youth Development officials and "unusual occurrence" reports - obtained under the state's public records law. The newspaper also interviewed former inmates as well as current and former guards, counselors and teachers.