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Louisiana To Spend Millions Expanding Youth Detention

Louisiana officials expect to put tens of millions of dollars over the next two months into expanding juvenile detention centers that house children and teenagers accused of crimes, Louisiana Illuminator reports. At the beginning of the summer, Gov. Jeff Landry and lawmakers diverted $100 million from a state savings account to make upgrades to criminal justice facilities. A large chunk of the money will be used to increase the state’s capacity to incarcerate youth offenders, though the exact amount hasn’t been set yet. “We are trying to prioritize funding for regional juvenile facilities,” said Christopher Walters, Landry’s deputy executive counsel. “We are lacking in bedspace for juvenile offenders.” The Landry administration gave the state juvenile justice office, adult prison system, sheriffs and parish officials the month of September to apply for criminal justice grants. The Legislature’s Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget will select the winning projects by the end of the year based on recommendations from a newly formed group called the Criminal Justice Priority Funding Commission, which is primarily made up of state lawmakers. 


Projects eligible for the funding go beyond juvenile justice facilities. They include criminal justice data integration efforts, crime labs and local adult jail upgrades. Walters and lawmakers made it clear, that they intend to focus a large portion of the $100 million on expanding the capacity of the Office of Juvenile Justice and local law enforcement to house more children and teenagers accused and convicted of crimes. The Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, which provides attorneys to incarcerated youth, disagrees with the decision to add detention center beds. “We believe any money our legislature spends should be invested on the things that are proven to create community safety, disrupt the cycle of harm that incarceration perpetuates, and help youth feel supported and thrive in their homes, schools and communities, not additional detention centers,” said Kristen Rome, the organization’s executive director. District attorneys and parishes in rural areas have struggled to find places to hold underage suspects they arrest because they don’t operate their own local juvenile detention center. At times, they have resorted to sending them to facilities in Mississippi and Alabama, which is expensive. The surge in juvenile detention spending also falls in line with Landry’s overall “tough on crime” agenda. During his first few months in office, the Republican governor increased criminal penalties across the board, including ratcheting up punishments for younger people. 

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