One day last summer, 17-year-old Alex learned, while watching the news, that kids detained at the juvenile facility where he was living were slated to be transferred to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. Alex was overcome by fear and couldn't sleep. While waiting to be taken to the notoriously violent adult, maximum-security prison, he started pulling out his hair.  In October, Louisiana acted on its decision and transferred the first group of children to Angola — without providing advance notice to them, their parents, guardians, or lawyers. The ACLU, where I work, represents Alex (who is using a pseudonym because he is underage) and several other young people in a lawsuit against the state of Louisiana, challenging this inhumane transfer of children to Angola.

Children held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary—better known as the notorious Angola prison—have been locked in their cells for days at a time, only allowed to leave to shower, according to a 15-year-old who was detained at the unit. During his time there, he says guards twisted his arm and sprayed him and others with mace.   

NEW ORLEANS (CN) — The American Bar Association can show its disapproval of Louisiana sending children to Angola prison by not doing business in the state, a panelist told the lawyers' organization Thursday afternoon. “ABA can say, ‘We came to Louisiana, and we spent our money, and we learned enough to know we don’t agree with what you’re doing, and we’re not coming back,’” Kristen Rome, co-executive director of the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, suggested during the ABA panel in a French Quarter Marriott. Louisiana State Penitentiary – also known as Angola Prison after the plantation it replaced – is the largest maximum-security adult prison in the U.S., with over 6,000 inmates.

Instead of making reforms, Louisiana has doubled down, and now, incredibly, is moving children in its juvenile justice system into Angola.  As we enter Oscar season and more eyes are on Louisiana, it is time not just to acknowledge the past, but to look for modern solutions for youth who are being warehoused in these horrific conditions.

buntu is a South African term meaning I am because we are. Ubuntu Village, a New Orleans-based nonprofit, is building a coalition of families whose lives have been impacted by a myriad of factors, including a lack of community investment compounded by confrontations with the juvenile justice system.

Black youth are four times more likely to be detained or committed to juvenile facilities than their white peers, according to the Sentencing Project. “In Baton Rouge, we have a population that is roughly half and half Black and white. One might expect maybe disparate impact on the population maybe you would have 75 percent who are Black. It generally hovers around 95 percent,” said Jack Harrison, director of the Juvenile Defense Clinic at LSU Law Center. “The racial disparity in our area is profound.” Harrison blames law enforcement for the racial disparity.

Many children in the juvenile justice system are survivors of violence and often have significant mental health needs. These children do not need more punishment; they need professional care and support. Most importantly, they need those around them to make clear that they see their potential for a bright future. This is not only what the law […]

The New York Times shared the stories of 12 kids from all around the country that died as a result of gun violence. What they shared is that they were kids, full of all the big, unformed ideas about the world and their place in it that swell inside any young person.  Black children, especially […]

Last year, the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice began transferring children to Angola, the state’s most notorious prison. Since then, kids say they’ve suffered through horrific conditions and routine mistreatment. Incarcerating children at Angola is antithetical to the OJJ’s duty to help children in their facilities, said Kristen Rome, co-executive director of the Louisiana Center […]

Two teens held at a new juvenile lockup in a former death row building at Angola said in court filings that youth there have been pepper sprayed, held in solitary confinement for hours with breaks only for showers and regularly had aggressive run-ins with Department of Corrections guards. read the full article here