Transfer has begun of violent juvenile offenders, from the troubled Bridge City Center for Youth in Jefferson Parish to the Louisiana State Prison at Angola. A bus carrying ten young inmates made the trip to the prison early Tuesday morning. Marrero state Senator Patrick Connick says it took a legal battle to put the plan in motion, but it is now happening…
“The facility at Angola is up and running. The Governor and his team did a great job making sure that all the federal requirements were met. It’s a good thing that this is taking place,” says Connick.
A facility has been prepared for them where they will remain separate from the adult population. The transfer comes after numerous escapes, riots and violent incidents among the worst of the Bridge City Centers’ youths. He says the young men are not being moved as punishment…
“They need the intense care, the education opportunities, the psychological help. They’re going to be brought to Angola where they can get the help they need to change their lives.”
Connick says, due to security concerns, the actual number of juveniles being moved to Angola will not be made public until the transfers are complete. He says the move will help protect guards at Bridge City, the less violent juveniles still there and the community in general. He says this will greatly help the remaining youths, who want to turn their lives around…:
“The ones that are being left behind (at Bridge City) …they’ll have a chance to go to school and learn without being subject to all the violence and the destruction that’s been going on.”
Legal challenges to then state’s transfer of the youths to Angola are ongoing.
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