April 14
April 14, 2009
Charles "Bob" Craver
April 16, 2009
Before the Terrebonne Parish Criminal Justice Complex reopened for inmates on Thursday, the public got to tour the newly renovated facility.
The Ashland jail was heavily damaged by hurricanes Gustav and Ike last September. Eighteen inches of storm surge inundated the jail forcing hundreds of inmates to be relocated.
Law enforcement officials and the approximately 100 tourists were impressed with the décor and improvements made to the jail.
“It looks better now than the day it opened,” said Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois of the facility that debuted in 1992. “It’s a whole lot neater, cleaner and better organized.”
The parish paid nearly $750,000 to repair the damages, Bourgeois said. The cost would have been a lot more without the work of trusty labor.
The entire facility was painted by trusty labor, which saved the parish about $330,000, according to Warden Lee Roy Lirette. It was the first time the jail had been painted since it first opened.
Trusties also stripped the black and white floor tiles, assisted contract workers when additional manpower was needed and worked long hours alongside jail staff to get the facility back operational.
“These guys started right after Gustav, hosing down the building, scrubbing and mopping the floor, and then Ike came,” said Lirette. “They have been in this building every day since the week after (Ike). They impressed me. When we stayed until 8, 9, 10 o’clock at night working, they stayed. Then they get up at 2 in the morning to start cooking meals. “
“They worked hard for this parish. They’re proud of their work,” said Capt. Claude Triche, assistant warden.
Trusties were the first inmates to move back in last Thursday. The entire jail will be repopulated within the next week, Lirette said.
Since the hurricanes, most detainees have been kept at the downtown Jailhouse Annex. Male inmates who could not bond out were transferred to Angola State Penitentiary, while female inmates went to the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women at St. Gabriel.
Saltwater damage forced the replacement of all mattresses and pillows, industrial-sized equipment from the laundry and kitchen and 26 miles of electrical wiring.
While the Juvenile Justice Center next door reopened in October, Lirette said it took the adult complex longer to finish because contract workers had to replace the locks and upgrade the security system.
Among the other improvements made to the facility, 50 new beds were added, increasing inmate capacity to 612. The jail houses about 100 female inmates.
“We were always having a problem with overcrowding,” Lirette said. “Luckily, the parish council found some money to get more beds. This will help alleviate the problem.”
The main control pod and all security control panels were lifted from the ground level to reduce the chances of getting water-damaged again.
Canines that used to roam the double-layer fencing will no longer be used. Instead, razor wire fencing was erected around the facility.
“The dogs… you have to feed them, give them shots and they lose hair, which is bad for the air-conditioning system,” Lirette said. “You don’t have those issues with the razor wire. You just have to spray the grass.”
New policies have been implemented to keep the facility clean and safe. Inmates that write on the walls will have the cost of repainting deducted from their commissary account.
Also, any inmate with long hair that does not bond out within 72 hours will have their hair cut.
“That’s a Hurricane Ike rule,” Lirette said. “[Long hair] is a problem because of lice and inmates can hide weapons or contraband in their hair.”
A1 Bonding Services agents Jessica Martello and Malette Terrio were “pleasantly surprised” by what they saw at the jail. Despite being located directly across the street from the facility, the two had never been beyond the prison lobby.
“We get details all the time from inmates about how horrible it is. This is like a hotel,” Martello said. “I feel like I’m on ‘Mythbusters.’ I don’t feel sorry for them anymore.”
Nobody was happier than Lirette to see the Ashland jail reopen. He had been running the facility for two months when the storms hit last September.
Lirette, Triche, assistant warden Capt. Mitch Dupre and Sgt. Shane Schwausch, a disciplinary and security officer with the department, rode out Hurricane Gustav in the facility’s sally port.
“When I walked in here two days after (Hurricane) Ike, coming across the parking lot, I was waist deep in water,” Lirette said. “It was discouraging to see the place you work go under water. Me and my staff have been putting in 15- to 18-hour days to get this jail back up and running. So this is a good day for us personally and professionally.”
Warden Lee Roy Lirette (left) gives visitors a glance at a holding cell in the reopened Terrebonne Parish Criminal Justice Complex at Ashland. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
