Lafourche Parish jail warden named

After a six-month search, Lafourche Parish’s outdated detention center has a new warden, a St. Bernard Parish native with an extensive background in corrections, management and law.

Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s officials selected Alan Abadie, 61, to replace retired warden Eddie Rodrigue on October 15.

Abadie was chosen over two candidates from within the sheriff’s office, Lt. Cortrell Davis, the facility’s assistant warden and Lt. Michael LeClair, the assistant commander of the work release program.

Because Abadie is close to retirement, he took the warden job in Lafourche Parish with the understanding that he would only head the jail for four to five years.

“Sheriff (Craig) Webre made it very clear that he had a qualified person – Lt. Davis – who he really would like to develop and move into this position in years to come,” Abadie said. “The sheriff asked me would I be willing to come in and help develop Davis and the other jail administrators to move up in the ranks after I am gone.”

Abadie had no problem with the sheriff’s request. He said one of the biggest responsibilities of a warden is to develop a good, solid professional staff.

“When I leave, I want the transition of power to be seamless,” he said. “Right now, Lt. Davis lacks some of the administrative experience, but in coming years I know he will be ready to take over.”

Abadie became a St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputy in 1969. Throughout his career, he oversaw several divisions, including major investigations, mounted patrol, K-9 unit, special investigations and records and data processing.

In 1979, he became the warden at the parish jail during a time the parish was going through a lot of litigation because all of the correctional departments statewide were being placed under parish supervision.

Before, the department was just an adjunct of the sheriff’s office, he said. However, in 1992, Abadie decided it was time for a career change. He took the job as Loyola University of New Orleans chief of police. There, he had the opportunity to meet Webre, who was finishing up his law degree.

He held that position for a few years before returning to the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office as the jail warden.

In 1981, Abadie earned his law degree from Loyola University. At this time, he already had a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in business administration under his belt.

The law degree put him in a position to serve as the executive counsel to then-St. Bernard Parish President Henry “Junior” Rodriguez and St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens.

“Though I was not in corrections anymore, I still had a connection with the department because I was offering my legal advice to the corrections department,” he said.

Abadie served in that capacity until 2007, when Craig Taffaro Jr. defeated Rodriguez for the parish presidency.

Taffaro eliminated the executive counsel position, which forced Abadie to seek employment elsewhere.

“With any political position, sometimes there is a change in the electoral climate,” he explained. “The job was eliminated. But, I know Sheriff Webre as a colleague and knew he was looking (for a warden), so I applied.”

Coming to Lafourche, the new warden is not too presumptuous about the position. He believes he should study the aspects of the jail before making any recommendations for improvements.

However, the obvious area of concern is the facility itself. The 32-year-old jail was designed to house 76 inmates back in 1976. However, it was reconfigured in the late 1980s to house 243 inmates.

The jail is sectioned to house hardened criminals, less violent offenders and women.

“This is an old facility that suffers from overcrowding,” he said. “One of the things you have to look at is do you need a new facility. It’s apparent that the parish government is looking in that direction because they need to increase the facility’s infrastructure to handle the inmate load that they have.”

“But that’s a long-range plan,” he added.

The Lafourche Parish Government allots $1 million to run the jail. Parish President Charlotte Randolph has created a Five Star Commission with the aim of building a new jail.

The commission will possibly eliminate or consolidate some of the parish’s millages.

On Monday, Abadie took his first tour of the facility, after meeting with Corrections Department head Major Marty Dufrene and Davis.

From the outset, Abadie is giving himself a couple of months before he makes any recommendation that could possibly improve the conditions at the jail.

“The majority of inmates will eventually get out of jail,” he said. “We don’t know if they are going to be better than they were before they came, but we can make sure that the transition back into society is easier because they need the tools to make the right decisions and have that family support system they desperately need.”

Lafourche Parish Detention Center deputies Heather Erwin and Mark Williams familiarize new Warden Alan Abadie with the jail’s monitoring and security system Monday. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN