JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Fed up with what he calls failed promises, Jefferson Parish Councilman Deano Bonano wants something done about the Bridge City Youth Center in his district.
“It’s time for action. I’m so tired of the talking,” Bonano said. “I just wish the state would for once do what they promised and move those violent offenders out of here to a more secure facility.”
Fights inside the center and multiple escapes, the most recent resulting in a carjacking and shooting, led the state to announce changes.
“We will temporarily move some, but not all of those youth to a separate and isolated location at the Louisiana State Penitentiary,” Governor John Bel Edwards said during a news conference last month.
That was July 19. Half of the approximately 50 juvenile inmates housed at Bridge City would be moved. Three weeks later, the head of the Office of Juvenile Justice, Bill Sommers, told lawmakers Monday that hasn’t happened.
“We’ve not moved, not one youth to a temporary facility like we’re talking about,” Sommers said.
Sommers said two juveniles were moved from Bridge City to other permanent facilities, but the temporary one at the state penitentiary isn’t ready.
During Monday’s Senate Select Committee on Women and Children, Sen. Regina Barrow questioned Sommers.
“Are you expecting to make any movement within the next 30 days?" Sen. Barrow said.
“Senator, I don’t want to put a date on it because I don’t know,” Sommers said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be 30 days. I don’t know if it’s going to be 45.”
Sommers said things like staffing, medical facilities, mental health services and educational programming must first be in place.
“We will not move a child to that facility until we are a hundred percent operational and ready to go,” Sommers said.
With no indication on when that will happen, Sommers remains skeptical of the entire plan.
“Maybe they shouldn’t have announced that so quickly and had another plan in place,” Bonano said.
Protestors don’t want them there at all, or at the closed Jetson Center for Youth near Baton Rouge, where those juveniles would eventually move to.
“If we were really trying to support young people, we wouldn’t be housing them at Angola. That’s a recipe for disaster,” Gina Womack said with Families and Friends of Incarcerated Children.
Back in his district, Bonano worries the slow process only leaves people who live around the center in danger.