DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REACHES AGREEMENT WITH LOUISIANA REGARDING CONDITIONS AT LOUISIANA'S
JUVENILE CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The state of Louisiana will continue to implement reforms to improve conditions at its four juvenile correctional facilities, under an agreement reached with the federal government, the Justice Department announced today.

The settlement agreement replaces an earlier comprehensive agreement entered in 2000, which was set to expire on January 21, 2003. Under the new agreement, the state will enhance its efforts to reduce violence, and improve medical and mental health services at the correctional facilities. Today's agreement also recognizes the state's compliance with parts of the 2000 agreement and another agreement requiring improvements in educational services.

"I want to congratulate the state of Louisiana on the progress it has made in improving conditions, particularly educational services, at its juvenile justice facilities," said Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "I am also pleased that the state recognizes there is still work to be done and through this agreement, has committed itself to complete the reform efforts it began several years ago."

The agreement, filed today in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, accomplishes the following:

•terminates the 1999 education agreement and requests that the court dismiss the Department's and private plaintiffs' claims regarding educational services;

•extends certain provisions from the 2000 agreement regarding protecting youth from harm, investigating use of excessive force by staff, limiting the inappropriate use of cell restriction, and improving the training and skills of correctional officers;

•dismisses most provisions covering medical and mental health care for the facilities located near Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center ("LSUHSC") now provides care, but continues all provisions covering medical and mental health care for the facilities in Monroe and Tallulah, where LSUHSC is just beginning to provide care;

•expands the training provided to staff responsible for investigating allegations of abuse and neglect;

•expands the mental health treatment and programming for youth with low IQs; youth diagnosed with substance abuse or dependancy disorders; and youth who are classified as sexual perpetrators or victims of sexual abuse;

•reduces the population at the facility in Tallulah to 225 juveniles and precludes housing juveniles who are seriously mentally ill or have an IQ below 70 on Unit II at the Tallulah facility, absent exigent circumstances; and

•appoints Dr. James Austin, Director of the Institute on Crime, Justice and Corrections at The George Washington University, to be the independent expert. Dr. Austin will assemble a team of juvenile justice experts who will provide technical assistance to the state in running its facilities, as well as monitor the state's compliance with the terms of the settlement agreement.

The agreement takes effect today and will terminate in January 2004, if the state substantially complies with its terms.

The Justice Department began investigating the juvenile facilities in Louisiana in 1996 under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) and the pattern or practice provisions of the 1994 Crime Act. In 1997, the Justice Department informed the state that conditions in the facilities violated the rights of the confined youth. In 1998, after efforts to settle the case failed, the Justice Department filed suit in federal court against Louisiana. In November of 1999, the parties settled all claims regarding educational services. Less than a year later, in August 2000, the parties settled the remaining claims regarding violence at the facilities, and medical, mental health and rehabilitative services.

The Department of Justice is currently monitoring settlement agreements covering the juvenile facilities in Georgia, Puerto Rico, Essex County, New Jersey, and the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Department also has ongoing investigations at individual facilities in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, South Dakota and Virginia.

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