Fletcher among nation’s fastest growing tech colleges
December 20, 2011
Mandry J. Bourgeois Sr.
December 22, 2011
Members of the committee tasked with building a new jail in Lafourche Parish said they would revisit a parish-commissioned study published in 2009 to determine if funding a second study would paint a more-focused picture of the potential jail’s size.
Dr. James Austin, president of JFA Institute, a criminal justice research center based in Washington D.C., made a pitch to the committee last week that they retain his services.
Austin, who has projected jail populations in New York City and New Orleans, said he could provide the committee a baseline, or maximum, population level based on local crime trends and how the number would be changed with the implementation of population-decreasing programs.
“It tells you what’s driving the jail population now,” Austin said of his $50,000 service.
Austin was endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has spoke out against the 2009 study that suggested the parish would need an 894-bed facility by 2030 to keep up with an estimated peak population of 760 inmates.
Austin, on the other hand, told the committee that crime is on the decline. Crime rates nation- and state-wide are at their lowest levels since 1968 and 1975, respectively, he said, and there are nearly 120,000 empty jail beds in the United States. “It’s just a change in the way things are happening in the country,” he said.
Austin said he would send a copy of the report he completed for Orleans Parish to the committee’s members.
The current jail, which was built in 1968 and expanded in 1977, has had crowding issues since 1995 and maintenance problems since 1992. The Lafourche Parish Council began planning the construction of a replacement jail March 1, 2005, but hurricanes and an oil spill have delayed progress.
The new jail committee held its first meeting in March.
Two of the committee’s members are outgoing councilmen, so Rodney Doucet and Louis Richard are expected to give up their seats.
A former parish president and Richard’s replacement on the council, Aaron Caillouet addressed the committee, saying the parish needs to build smart and in a way that would not curb future expansion. “We should build a jail in a shorter timeframe and design it such that we can add on,” he said.
Sheriff Craig Webre, who has said in the past that the parish should not keep spending money on studies, asked the committee to explain why the initial report is unsatisfactory and determine a bid-process to hire a crime expert to conduct another study.
Julie Thibodaux, of the ACLU, has lobbied against a 900-bed jail on multiple occasions. An oversized facility will put pressure on law enforcement to fill empty beds, she has argued.
“We know a new jail is needed,” Thibodaux said. “It’s about building the right size for your community.”
Nine months after meeting for the first time, Lafourche Parish’s new Jail Committee said it would compare a report compiled by a noted jail population expert for Orleans Parish with the one it commissioned in 2009 to see if his services are worth procuring. ERIC BESSON
