Shackles and Solitary: Inside Louisiana’s Harshest Juvenile Lockup
ProPublica, March 10, 2022: Shackles and Solitary: Inside Louisiana’s Harshest Juvenile Lockup
“Lawyers and a judge gathered in an East Baton Rouge juvenile courtroom last October for an update on a teenager detained after joyriding in a stolen car. The teen appeared on a screen, alongside a caseworker who stunned everyone by describing conditions in the lockup where he was held.
“The 15-year-old was being kept in round-the-clock solitary confinement. He was getting no education, in violation of state and federal law, nor was he getting court-ordered substance abuse counseling, according to two defense attorneys present. And no one in the room that day — not the judge, not the prosecutor, not the defense lawyers — appeared to have heard of the facility where Louisiana’s Office of Juvenile Justice was holding him, the Acadiana Center for Youth at St. Martinville.
“‘It was as if a secret prison had been opened up,’” one of the attorneys, Jack Harrison, said. “‘I could see on the judge’s face both shock and real anger — visceral anger.’”
“They had no idea how bad it was.”
Additional reading:
The Acadiana Advocate, March 10, 2022: 'No light. No nothing.' Inside Louisiana's harshest juvenile lockup, quietly opened last year
The Marshall Project: Juveniles in solitary confinement
