Junior A. Fabiano
April 7, 2009
Willard John Kraemer Jr.
April 9, 2009
The search for a consulting firm to oversee construction of a new Lafourche Parish Detention Center is awaiting the parish council’s approval.
Nearly a year ago, the Lafourche Parish Council assembled the 15-member Five-Star Committee to investigate building a new jail. The panel was charged with the task of examining the parish’s funding structure to build a new jail.
The committee is divided into two subgroups: one studies the operations of jails – including construction – and the other focuses on parish finances.
In March, the council, along with the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, hired James Rowenhorst, a consultant with the National Institute of Corrections, to assess what Lafourche Parish needs in the new jail.
“Mr. Rowenhorst will look at the detention center’s arrest and booking history and inmate transport to other facilities and to court,” said Major Marty Dufrene, Lafourche Parish Correctional Facility head. “Then he will make a report to the committee as to what kind of jail they will need to house a select number of inmates.”
“Mr. Rowenhorst is just one of a few consultants Lafourche will be meeting with about the construction of a new jail,” he added.
The consultants will help Lafourche Parish shop around for a jail design. When looking at a design for a new correctional facility, parish governments typically go with prototypes that have already been constructed, Dufrene said, because they are more cost effective and take less time to construct.
“We talk to the administration and see what works for the jail system and what doesn’t work,” he said. “Then we take the things that work and try to make them better, meaning we take a good system and make a sound one.”
Lafourche’s neighboring parishes, St. Charles and Terrebonne, have similar correctional facility designs. Terrebonne Parish constructed its jail in 1992. St. Charles Parish improved on Terrebonne’s architectural renderings before finalizing plans for its jail in 2001, said Major John Nowak, warden of Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility.
“The jail has worked well for us because it is constructed to where we can add on to it easily,” Nowak said. “We did improve on some things that Terrebonne Parish was not happy with, and I am pretty sure that Lafourche will do the same.”
The Lafourche Parish Detention Center was built in 1976 to house 76 inmates, said Assistant Warden Cortrell Davis. Today, the facility has been reconfigured to handle more than triple the load – 243 inmates.
The jail is sectioned to house hardened criminals in single-man cells, less violent offenders in four-man cells and women prisoners in a separate wing with four-person cells, Davis said.
“We have always added inmates, but never done anything to improve their support,” the assistant warden said. “We need to do something with the plumbing, kitchen, laundry room, storage area, learning center and the locking system.”
Virtually every part of the 33-year-old facility is outdated or in need of repair, said Sheriff Craig Webre.
Lafourche jail administrators have had the opportunity to tour the St. Charles facility.
St. Charles’ and Terrebonne’s facilities have spacious designs that address overcrowding and security issues, which Lafourche faces daily.
Dufrene designed a presentation that compared St. Charles’ jail to Lafourche’s detention center.
“It basically showed them the improvements that we need to make,” Dufrene said. “Committee members got to see pictures of each facility side-by-side.”
The jail’s sallyport, where inmates are loaded and unloaded, needs to be enlarged. St. Charles’ design shows a secure area that can fit at least six regular police cruisers or an inmate transport van.
“St. Charles’ model has a drive-through setting, which makes loading and unloading inmates easier for the officers,” Dufrene said. “They have a lot of room to cuff people to benches, if need be. The holding cells are also more visible from the control center in the St. Charles inmate intake area.”
Presently, Lafourche has a setup that looks like a two car garage, Dufrene said. Officers have to physically leave the control room to check on inmates in the holding cells.
According to Nowak, the circular design of the sallyport works well for St. Charles.
Other major improvements needed at the new jail are expansions to the interior perimeter and increasing space in the cellblocks, medical center, booking room and control center.
“St. Charles’ facility has two-tier cell construction pods with an enclosed guard area for indirect supervision. The booking area is raised to allow the correctional officers better visual contact with the inmates in the holding cells,” Dufrene said. “Our facility is on one level and we have to physically walk away from the control center to monitor the inmates in the holding cells.”
Dufrene said some smaller improvements include a larger recreational area, law library, kitchen and records and classification areas.
Lafourche Parish authorities are eyeing the Nelson Coleman Correctional Center in St. Charles Parish as a potential prototype for Lafourche’s aging detention center. * Photo courtesy of the LAFOURCHE PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE
