CAMPAIGN NEWS: PRESS COVERAGE
FROM: Associated Press
By DOUG SIMPSON
The Associated Press
11/12/02 5:48 PM
NEW
ORLEANS (AP) -- A judge who has found conditions at Tallulah juvenile prison
dangerous enough to violate the state constitution ordered the removal Tuesday
of all inmates sent there from his court.
Mark
Doherty, an Orleans Parish Juvenile Court judge, wrote that he had "grave
concerns for the physical and mental health" of prisoners at Tallulah.
All inmates sentenced to terms at Tallulah from his court must be transferred
to different facilities within 30 days, Doherty ruled.
The
state Department of Corrections will be fined $100 per day for each of those
youths who has not been transferred by Dec. 12, Doherty's ruling said.
It
was unclear, however, whether Doherty had authority to issue the order. Richard
Stalder, secretary of the state Department of Corrections, said state law gives
his agency "sole authority over treatment, placement, care" of juveniles
sent to prison in Louisiana.
Stalder
said his office would review the ruling, but added that Tallulah is the state's
only juvenile prison with maximum security facilities.
"We
have no other option available" for juveniles who require maximum security,
Stalder said.
"Tallulah
has come a long way, and currently meets a legitimate need in our department,"
he said.
It
was unclear what drove Doherty to issue the ruling on Tuesday. In December 2001,
Doherty ordered the release of a 17-year-old Tallulah prisoner, writing that
one guard held the inmate and another guard broke the youth's jaw. Doherty reduced
the youth's sentence, allowing his release, because of the threat of violence
from guards.
Stalder
has said three separate investigations have found no evidence the guards caused
the youth's injuries.
Tallulah,
known officially as the Swanson Correctional Center for Youth, has been repeatedly
cited for violence since it opened in 1994. A number of U.S. Justice Department
reports found that guards commonly beat prisoners.
The
state took over management of the prison in 1999 because of allegations that
private ownership had allowed poor conditions, abuse and inadequate educational,
medical and mental health services.
Doherty
stated in Tuesday's ruling that he was acting under obligation of the Louisiana
Children's Code, which orders juvenile courts to "safeguard the physical
and mental health of the youth." Juvenile judges are obligated to "monitor
the conditions of confinement and rehabilitative treatment" of youths in
Department of Corrections facilities, Doherty wrote.
Critics
of Tallulah praised Doherty's ruling. David Utter, director of the Juvenile
Justice Project of Louisiana, said the Corrections Department has abrogated
its legal duty to provide proper treatment for its juvenile prisoners.
Doherty
"is simply following his duty to make sure that the kids under his jurisdiction
are not mistreated," Utter said.
Utter said the Legislature assumed that incarcerated juveniles would be treated properly when it drafted the law giving the Corrections Department sole authority over their placement.