St. Landry to ask Louisiana lawmakers for approval of pretrial juvenile detention center

A St. Landry Parish Council committee has agreed to proceed with a resolution that will ask state lawmakers to approve a nine-parish pretrial detention center for juvenile offenders accused of violent crimes.

Parish president Jessie Bellard told a Finance and Administrative Committee meeting on Wednesday night that seven parishes neighboring St. Landry are considering passage of similar resolutions, while Allen and Jefferson Davis parishes have also expressed interest in the proposed facility.

None of the committee members discussed the matter or expressed opposition to the request from Bellard, which means the resolution will be discussed again during a full council meeting later in February.

Bellard told the Committee that like other parishes statewide, St. Landry is experiencing an increase in violent juvenile crime and there is an insufficient regional capability for incarceration.

“What we and the other parishes are looking at right now is to approach our legislative delegations representing these nine parishes in order to create or build a facility where these juveniles can be placed on a 72-hour hold after they are arrested,” Bellard said.

A proposal to fund and locate a juvenile facility in the Prairie Ronde community west of Opelousas was supported by parish law enforcement and the St.Landry judicial system was discussed before council members over 10 years ago, but opposition which focused on where the facility would be located eventually caused parish officials to drop the idea.

Bellard said St. Landry has nowhere to send juveniles that could eventually enter the state juvenile criminal justice system.

In a 2022 article published in the Daily World, St. Landry Parish District Attorney Chad Pitre said there had already been some discussion among parish governments about forming a juvenile district.

Like Bellard, Pitre said the problem of juvenile crime in St. Landry like in other parishes has become an escalating issue for law enforcement.

Pitre said at the time that issues with juveniles are usually referred to city courts operated in Opelousas and Eunice and that each of those courts has a good working relationship with the DA's Office.

In that article Bellard who was also interviewed, said that if a facility was constructed or developed as part of a juvenile detention district, state funding would probably be necessary.

“What we are doing right now (in St. Landry) is sending juveniles to a facility in Alabama at a cost to the parish of $200 per day. We are asking for the legislators to look at creating legislation for this,” Bellard said.

According to the resolution the nine parishes are interested in forming the Acadiana Regional Juvenile Justice District, which would establish one facility capable of handling juvenile inmates.

During a post-meeting interview, Bellard said the operation and creation of the facility would be paid for either through taxation or some other revenue channels from parishes wishing to participate.

A parish-wide referendum would be necessary for parishes that are requesting support from taxes, Bellard said.

Bellard said the $200 estimated costs for housing juveniles elsewhere include the use of the other facilities, in addition to expenses for deputies and transportation.

Normally when juveniles are picked up following arrests Bellard said, they are sent to juvenile facilities where they are held for 72 hours.

“After that, the courts will often send these juveniles to a state facility or order them back into custody. When that happens, there is no place to put any of them right now,” said Bellard.

Bellard said that state judges who preside over jurisdictions in the nine-parish area are currently in favor of developing a facility.

The resolution says that currently there are 12 local juvenile detention facilities statewide and many of those do not have space available to hold pretrial youths from outside their jurisdictions.

The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice, according to the resolution also has informed judges that it has become unable to accept sentenced youths into state custody because the OJJ-operated facilities are at full capacity and there is a backlog of juvenile cases.

This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: St. Landry to ask for approval of pretrial juvenile detention center