St. Mary chiefs, DA grapple with juvenile justice

The parish’s police chiefs, the chief sheriff’s deputy and the district attorney talked Monday about the challenges presented by juvenile crime, and pointed to some of the solutions their jurisdictions have developed.

“We’re here to find out what they’re doing,” moderator Pearl Rack said. “Then you have to think about it: What can we do?”

The panel appeared at the Patterson Area Civic Center for the second in a series of town hall meetings called to discuss a recent surge in violent crime. The goal is to form a task force.

The first meeting June 6 brought together the mayors of St. Mary municipalities. The next, set for 6 p.m. June 20 at the Patterson Area Civic Center, will focus on social services.

Attending Monday’s town hall meeting were the five St. Mary police chiefs: Interim Chief Mark Griffin Jr. of Morgan City, David Leonard of Berwick, Garrett Grogan of Patterson, Morris Beverly of Franklin and Harry Smith of Baldwin.

They were joined by St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Gary Driskell and Bo Duhé, district attorney for the 16th Judicial District.

Asked to rate the relative seriousness of gun violence, drugs, domestic abuse and home invasion in their communities, the chiefs generally put gun violence and drugs at the top of the list.

“If we can take care of the drugs ... it may help with the gun violence we’re seeing throughout the parish,” Grogan said.

It didn’t take long for the talk to turn to the same major problem identified by the mayors: juvenile crime.

“It’s a tragedy to see these young kids lose their lives over simple arguments,” Driskell said.

Identifying the problem is one thing. Fixing it is proving more difficult. One question for the panel asked why juveniles accused of serious crimes are sometimes released to their parents’ custody.

Duhé outlined the troubled recent history of juvenile justice in Louisiana.

In 2003, Louisiana turned to what was called “Missouri model” for juvenile justice, Duhé said. That model called for smaller detention facilities closer to where offenders live as an alternative to large juvenile jails, with improved provisions for health care and limits on the number of youths housed in each jail “pod.”

Violence and abuse at the large facility known as Tallulah led to a search for a different way.

But when state budget problems arose, then-Gov. Bobby Jindal cut the Office of Juvenile Justice budget by more than half, Duhé said.

Other nearby detention centers may not accept inmates from St. Mary because they’re full. Hurricane Ida forced the Terrebonne facility to close, taking away one detention option and reducing space at the facilities where Terrebonne inmates were moved.

Lack of space may require local jurisdictions to send offenders to facilities in Mississippi or Alabama at a cost of $200-$300 per day.

That cost can be a burden on local budgets. For comparison, the Morgan City government recently stopped housing adult St. Mary Parish inmates in the city jail. The two sides couldn’t come to terms on a request for an additional $5 reimbursement per prisoner per day.

The Legislature raised the age at which an offender can be treated as an adult in most circumstances from 17 to 18. That turned 17-year-olds into juveniles in the justice system.

In the year before the change, 22 juveniles committed 33 homicides. In 2019, after the change, 70 juveniles committed 99 homicides.

“We think the system has fallen,” Duhé said.

Local entities have nevertheless found ways to deal with juveniles.

Griffin praised the work of Morgan City Court Judge Kim Stansbury, who handles juveniles by assigning community service work and following up to see how they’re doing in school.

Beverly said Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard recently brought a juvenile to the police station, where he got a touch of “Scared Straight” with a tour of the jail as well as mentoring.

Duhé also said St. Mary started the state’s first drug court in 1996.