Advocates are asking a judge to remove a group of juvenile inmates being held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. A court filing alleges the youth offenders are sleeping in hot conditions, they are isolated and forced to shower while shackled and handcuffed. Southern Poverty Law Center senior policy analyst Delvin Davis said,
“The situation of incarceration in Angola is emblematic of a larger systemic issue of juvenile justice in Louisiana as a whole.”
On the one year anniversary of the state announcing plans to send incarcerated youth to Angola, the Southern Policy Law Center has released a report that provides recommendations to improve Louisiana’s youth justice system. Davis said one of their recommendations is to invest in community-based alternatives to youth incarceration that prioritizes rehabilitation.
“How can you think about juvenile justice in Louisiana differently that chooses care and rehabilitation instead of punishment and incarceration?”
Davis said a major problem with the state’s youth justice system is that it’s over-reliant on incarceration, which is ripe with abuse. He said there are other alternatives that focus on rehab.
“Consider children being able to be cared for outside of jails, outside of prisons, and in their own communities.”
The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice is not commenting on the legal fight to remove the incarcerated youth from Angola or the Southern Poverty Law Center’s recommendations for improving the state’s juvenile justice system.
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