Plans for juvenile justice district go to Legislature

The creation of a nine-parish Acadiana Regional Juvenile Justice District is now before the Legislature. 
St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard,  chairman of the proposed district’s board of directors, said, “Everybody in here knows that we have issues across all nine parishes.” 
He added, “What we do now is we’re going to the state Legislature this year to get them to approve this district to get it on the ballot for a sales tax of one cent, one cent sales tax for one year. At the end of that year, the money that’s collected builds the new facility for the juvenile detention.” 
After one year, the sales tax drops to a 0.25% to pay for operations and maintenance, he said at the April 16 Parish Council meeting in Opelousas. 
The parishes involved are Acadia, Evangeline, Jefferson Davis, Vermilion, Iberia, St. Martin, St. Mary and St. Landry. 
A majority of voters in the nine parishes must approve the sales tax, which will not have an end date, he said. 
Justice system officials in St. Mary have said the number of juvenile detention beds falls short of the need. When a young person is accused of a violent crime — too violent to allow the youth to be returned to parental custody — the cost to send the suspect to an out-of-area facility can sometimes reach hundreds of dollars a day.
The proposed facility will have more than 100 beds and expected to cost $80 million. The facility is to be located north of Interstate 10, he said. 
“But this facility is not going to be a regular detention center. This facility is going to be put in place to hopefully take these juveniles and bring them back into the workforce after they get out,” he said. 
Juvenile crime is a bigger problem than most people know, he said. 
“We are spending $50,000 a month on juveniles because we have a contract with Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Office They hold 10 juveniles for us right now,” he said. 
Bellard added, it is difficult to budget for the detentions. 
“We don’t know when the next one is going to be put in and, trust me, these judges are not sending the juveniles to these detention centers just because you know it’s a minor crime, you know they’re accused of major crimes,” he said. 
Bellard said four juveniles were being held in the parish jail and they must be sent to a juvenile facility at a cost of $275 a day. An adult prisoner costs the parish $17 a day, he said. 
“So you all see the big problem we have. And then we’re lucky to have them in Louisiana. Most of the juveniles will have to be transported to and from Alabama, Mississippi,” he said. 
“We’re looking at a facility that we can add on to if we need. But it’s going to give the judges an opportunity to put some of these kids that do lesser offenses, to go sit a couple of days and think about what they’re doing. Right now, there’s no recourse,” he said. 
“I mean, honestly, if they don’t shoot somebody or they don’t stab somebody, they don’t get sent. They just go back home with the parents because there’s no room and there’s no money,” he said. 
“Whenever the kids get in our custody it’s our responsibility to make sure we just don’t throw them in jail and forget about it,” he said. 
State funding was considered, but it would require 30% of the beds be available for the state, he said. 
“So with this plan right here, we pay for our own weight and we manage it ourselves,” he said. 
Board members are: Sheriff K.P. Gibson, Acadia Parish; Kenny Courville, Allen Parish; Sheriff Charles Guillory, Evangeline Parish; Sheriff Ricky Edwards, Jefferson Davis Parish; Stan Hardee, Kaplan city judge; Armond Schwing, Iberia Parish; Chester Cedars, St. Martin Parish; Tania C. Washington, St Mary Parish; Jim Doherty, retired district judge, St. Landry Parish; Jessie Bellard, city judges, St. Landry Parish president; and Judge Luke Abrusby, parish presidents and police juries, Allen Parish.