Waiting.
This story was awarded the top PEN Prison Writing Award for fiction.
Category
Criminal Justice
Towns across Louisiana clamor to build new juvenile detention centers
Local governments request more than $500 million to build regional and local juvenile-detention facilities — and to repair and construct some adult jails.
Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice to end contract with troubled Jackson Parish jail
Invoices show that Jackson charged OJJ nearly $2 million dollars over the past year to house juveniles in the jail, despite grave allegations of abuse and mistreatment.
To prevent suicide, New Orleans daughter urges states to let people ban themselves from buying guns
Donna’s Law, which allows people to ban themselves from gun ownership, has proven one of the few areas of gun policy where Republicans and Democrats can agree. But it has made little headway in Louisiana, home of the bill’s namesake.
Licensing a troubled juvenile jail
A year ago, when Jackson Parish opened its new, unlicensed juvenile jail, kids complained of extended stints of solitary confinement, along with extensive abuse and violations. A DCFS inspection supported those claims, but the agency gave the jail a license anyway.
Louisiana sanctions use of pepper spray and mace on detained juveniles
In July, a new state law put all Louisiana pretrial juvenile detention centers under the umbrella of the state Office of Juvenile Justice. Soon after, the agency filed an ‘emergency order’ approving the use of ‘chemical agents’ in those facilities.
No longer ‘half slave, half free’
‘Grossly insufficient’: Judge blasts DOC-suggested fixes for Angola’s Farm Line
Appeals court rules in favor of chihuahua search party
Angola’s proposed Farm Line fix ‘borders on bad faith,’ lawyers contend
A federal judge ordered the DOC to improve conditions for workers forced to in Angola’s fields. The crews now have sunscreen and a 10x10 popup tent for shade.
