The Value of Hard Work
April 10, 2018
The Family of Law
April 10, 2018
Later this year, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office will mark a monumental day in the history of law enforcement and criminal justice in our area.
Significant progress is being made on the construction of the parish’s new jail, which was made possible in 2014 when voters agreed to tax themselves to fund the project – the ending point of a multi-year public debate about how to pay for the much-needed facility.
The jail is being built by Yates Construction. It was designed by Grace Hebert Architects and Duplantis Design Group Team – groups which have experience designing several jails around Louisiana. It has a price tag of greater than $40 million.
The foundation of the new jail can easily be seen directly across Veteran’s Boulevard from where the parish’s current jail sits. According to estimates, the jail is expected to be open in late summer/early fall of this year – a day that Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre has said repeatedly is a long time coming for he and his employees.
The current jail was built in the 1960s and expanded in 1977 and Webre and others with LPSO have said repeatedly throughout the process that it’s outdated, undersized and in dire need of replacing. Issues regarding space in the jail go back as far as the early 1990s.
“I think this is a great thing for Lafourche Parish,” Webre said after construction began at the site in 2016. “It’s been a long time coming and a lot of work and effort has come into the decision that we needed a new facility here for our parish. We thank the people of the parish for supporting our efforts and we just look forward to the future.”
It’s a future that’s getting closer and closer to becoming the present with each passing day.
The new jail will be a huge upgrade over the current one, which lawmakers believe will help keep the parish safer in the future.
The facility is being built on a 42-acre piece of property owned by LPSO. It will not occupy the entirety of the space. But it will be large – more than 125,000 square feet in total. That is far larger than the current facility.
The excess space will be used productively, as Lafourche plans to have 500 beds in its new facility – up from the 250 or so spaces it has available now. The new jail will also be able to hold 600 inmates in special situations, if necessary. That increase in space will be a financial coup to LPSO, which regularly has more inmates in custody than it has room to house them.
When that happens, Webre has to ship inmates around the state, which costs money to his department. At the time of the tax’s passage, Webre called the jail one of the “weakest links” in the area’s criminal justice system. He also thanked the public for their support, adding that two of the most unpopular things in a society are the words “taxes” and “prisoners.” To Webre, the ability to get public funding for the construction showed the support that he has from the public he serves.
“It is one of the most fulfilling and worthwhile things that I have been blessed to be part of in my time in this office,” Webre said.
In addition to the larger space, LPSO also has big plans for how it can use its space to help the people who are confined to the jail’s walls. The new facility will have four general housing units and a corridor, which will allow for safer transportation for those who need to leave the facility. The jail will have its own medical center and pharmacy, as well as educational resources, such as a library and classroom spaces.
Webre said the benefit to having those resources is that it will allow officers to work to rehab and work with offenders so that they are better equipped to return to society upon their release.
The Lafourche Parish Jail mostly houses inmates who are serving short sentences or alleged criminals who are awaiting trial. According to LPSO’s website, the new jail will create innovative, credible and reliable strategies to include programs, services and opportunities in the following areas:
• Education
• Mental health
• Medical care
• Jail ministry/religion
• Drug and alcohol abuse/dependency
• Family support systems
• Domestic violence
• Technical/vocational support
• Other meaningful alternatives
“You cannot just put up a bunch of walls to create this building,” Webre said. “This is a functional facility where safety for the inmates and officers will be paramount while also serving as a rehabilitation center to return more productive citizens to our community.”
The new facility will also be technological. Inmates will have the ability to use video messaging to visit with family or friends who are not able to visit the jail during visitation rights.
LPSO has been tracking the jail’s progress on its website and social media outlets throughout construction. To see live webcams of work being done at the construction site, visit: http://www.lpso.net/about-lpso/departments/corrections/lpcc/. •
