- 16th Judicial District Attorney Bo Duhe has worked on legislation for a new juvenile detention center, that would better serve 9 parishes.
- Juveniles are currently being extradited out of state into other detention center, as Louisiana's are all "at capacity."
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW ACADIANA REGIONAL JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER HAS BEEN MADE. I'M ANNA FISCHER YOU'RE IBERIA PARISH REPORTER, HERE TO TELL YOU ABOUT A DEVELOPING PROJECT THAT COULD MAKE ITS WAY ONTO YOUR FUTURE BALLOT.
16TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY BO "DEWEY" HAS BEEN SERVING IBERIA, ST. MARTIN, AND ST. MARY PARISHES FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS.
HE HAS WORKED TO PUSH LEGISLATION THAT WOULD CREATE A NEW, 'ACADIANA REGIONAL JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER.'
"Most of these juvenile detention facilities are not designed for separation; but you got 17 year olds who may be interacting with 13 year olds, and so that's not a good situation."
ACCORDING TO "DEWEY," THE ISSUE OF OVERCROWDED JUVY'S HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE 2016 WHEN ACT 501 WAS SIGNED INTO LAW.
ACT 501 LEGALLY RAISED THE AGE OF WHO WAS CONSIDERED A JUVENILE TO 17.
"In the first year that 17-year-olds became juveniles, the homicide rate committed by juveniles jumped 130%. "Just the sheer capacity, or lack of capacity, to put juveniles was just not in. We had to start looking outside the state."
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY SAYS OFTENTIMES, THESE JUVENILES WILL BE ARRESTED AND RELEASED WITHIN A MATTER OF HOURS, SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE'S NOT ENOUGH ROOM.
"If you don't bring them before a judge within a certain number of hours, the law mandates that you have to release them back to their parent or to their community."
THE HOPE IS THAT ANOTHER, MORE LOCAL JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER WILL CUT DOWN ON COSTS WHILE KEEPING DETAINEES CLOSER TO THEIR FAMILIES.
"DEWEY" ALSO HOPES TO HAVE VARIOUS EDUCATION AND LIFE SKILLS PROGRAMS AT THE CENTER..."HELPING THEM TO CREATE A BETTER LIFE OUTSIDE OF JAIL."
"I've been doing this since 1994, and I know that it's very hard to change that behavior once you get into the late teens, early teens...teaching these kids, you know, a skill! So they can get out, get employed, make a living that they can live on and be successful. Basically, the goal is to curb that behavior, at that young of an age, so they're not a problem here. It's to keep them out of prison."
