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Less than a year after its doors first opened, a Terrebonne Parish jail intended strictly for female inmates has closed its doors, and its occupants returned to the former women’s housing area in the main jail at Ashland.
“It’s economics,” said Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, whose order that women be moved from the 120-bed all-female jail to the main jail next door was fulfilled Friday. “I am no different than anybody else, school boards, everybody is in a financial crisis and everybody is hurting. There is no way I can maintain a $4 million shortfall every year.”
A drop in sales tax collections, Larpenter said, is one factor that has necessitated austerity. The number of sentenced state inmates remaining in the jail has been in free-fall since Louisiana began culling from its prison system. That means less money paid by the state for their upkeep, which has been a steady revenue stream for the Sheriff’s Office in the past.
The women’s jail was a joint project between Larpenter and the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government, which owns the actual building.
Prior to its renovation the building, next door to the main jail on Grand Caillou Road, served as the parish juvenile detention center. That operation has since moved to higher ground in Gray. Larpenter’s inmate work program provided much of the labor for gutting out and rebuilding the inside, limiting his office’s outlay to around $150,000.
The women’s jail was designed to hold up to 130 inmates, but its population has hovered around 80 since it was opened in February of 2017. The new operation was licensed to provide rehabilitation services. Women were sewing clothing and bedding.
One cost factor is the payroll strain of operating a separate facility.
“We have got 25 women watching 60 or 70 females,” Larpenter said. “That’s a million a year for additional people.”
Staffing the women’s jail meant a change in the supervision structure for corretions officers, and several were promoted to meet that need.
As for whether those promotions will need to be scaled back, Larpenter said he has not yet decided if such a move — a sure-fire downer for morale — will occur.
“We are doing what we can to maintain services,” Larpenter said, adding that he will not cut patrols or other anti-crime operations, and is looking at every other option for reductions.
As for the building itself, Larpenter has some ideas but they haven’t quite gelled yet.
“It would be nice if I could sign a contract with somebody,” Larpenter said. “It’s a good facility, 120 beds. It would be nice if President Trump’s immigration bills would go through.”
