According to an emergency motion filed by the ACLU, juveniles housed at the Louisiana State Penitentiary are routinely placed in solitary confinement for 72 consecutive hours, locked in their cells for over 23 hours as punishment, and are handcuffed and shackled as punishment during their outdoor recreation time. The ACLU is asking the court to remove the children from Angola and place them in youth-appropriate settings.
“Solitary confinement is even worse for children than it is for adults, and even short periods of solitary can do irreparable harm,” said Tammie Gregg, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project in a press release. “Children in the juvenile system are legally required to receive rehabilitation, education, and treatment. But in Angola, for almost a year, the state has subjected children to punishment and abuse, depriving them of their rights and further harming already traumatized young people.”
The state began housing juveniles at Angola in October 2022 in a building formerly designed to hold adult death row inmates. Gov. John Bel Edwards has argued that the move was necessary due to a lack of housing options for more violent youth after multiple escapes and violent incidents at various youth centers. Initially, the Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) testified that the unit would be emptied by spring of 2023, however that has not been the case. Last week, OJJ Deputy Secretary Curtis Nelson told members of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission that the juveniles held at Angola will be moved to the Swanson Center for Youth in late October or mid-November.
However, that has left children sweltering through record heat this summer. The court filing says that although some areas of the building where the children are housed have air conditioning, the cells where the children are confined do not – during a summer where the heat index has reached as high as 133 degrees.
“The tier where I sleep and have been on lock down is not air conditioned. They have a fan and are supposed to give us ice and water, but only provide it about half the time. I am often thirsty,” said Alex A., a juvenile held at Angola in a written statement to the court. “It’s hard to sleep because it’s so hot. When the power goes out, we don’t even have the fan. The only a/c we get to is school.” Alex goes on to note that the school children are provided is online only, with no teacher. “I am close to getting my HISET (high school diploma) – and it makes me sad I can’t earn it. They keep promising that they’ll give me education, but don’t.”
“I would not dare to keep my dog in these conditions for fear of my dog dying,” said Dr. Susi U. Vassallo, a medical expert for the plaintiffs in a statement submitted to the court. “It has been dangerously hot in Angola so far this summer. Confining children for all or most of the day to concrete and cement buildings without air conditioning is foolhardy and perilous.”
