Louisiana’s youth detention centers say they have a problem with “chaotic violence and severe staffing.” So what is their solution?
Moving incarcerated children to Angola - the largest maximum security prison in the U.S. - and known as “America’s Bloodiest Prison.”
Intending to house youth in the prison’s old death row building, officials obviously faced backlash. And it isn’t just because kids may be exposed to adults, but because of the nature of Angola itself.
Angola is notorious for neglecting people’s medical needs, leaving them to die. It’s maintained the highest mortality rates out of all of this country’s prisons for years. And guards routinely brutalize and rape those incarcerated there.
It isn’t a safe place for anyone - but especially not already-traumatized children.
“Youth need safe, healthy environments and support rehabilitative services,” says the Families and Friends of Lousiana’s Incarcerated Children, fighting this impending move. “Instead, the state continues to ignore the needs of young people and their communities and perpetuates a cycle of harm.”
And in Louisiana, over 80% of the juvenile detention population is Black, its juvenile centers are already criticized for facilitating child abuse.
The criminal legal system is NOT designed to keep Black youth safe. If you would like to help, the FFLIC has action items on their website, including their petition to the governor: https://www.fflic.org/.