BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (WAFB) – Members of the East Baton Rouge Youth and Prison Task Force had the opportunity to see what a new parish jail and juvenile correctional center could look like.
The task force was presented with designs that showed smaller housing units, medical/psychiatric components, and views of nature and natural light.
Some participants at the meeting said that this was all good, but it seemed to them that it was all just a smokescreen.
“What I saw today at this meeting was more of an extravagant show. Colors, murals and designs. That was not what was intended here,” said Amelia Herrera, community organizer for VOTE (Voters Organized To Educate).
Herrera said the purpose of a new jail and detention center is to ensure offenders do not return to prison. EBR City Councilman Darryl Hurst agreed.
“I want you to understand the impact of a new facility. The impact is lower recidivism rates because when they go in there, they learn something that will help them when they get out,” Hurst said.
The task force is renewing a decades-old push for a new jail and youth correctional facility. The jail has a long list of problems, from peeling paint on the walls to low ceilings that prevent the installation of cameras for security.
There are also problems in the juvenile detention center, as children flee to small classrooms and dormitories.
Herrera said the goal should be to help people.
“You can paint it. You can design it. You can make it beautiful, but if you don’t install the necessary programs in it, we will still have a problem when they are released,” Herrera said.
A long process that is entrusted to this group.
The task force is planning a series of meetings to get feedback from the community. No dates have been set yet, but they hope to do so sometime in September.
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