*Children in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, which is meant for adults, are suffering from dangerous heat and psychological damage in isolation.
These young prisoners reportedly receive “little or no mental health care, inadequate schooling and foul water, advocates say in a federal court filing asking a judge to order that the youths be moved,” The AP writes.
Advocates are calling for youth inmates to be transferred from Angola, a former death row prison. In the paperwork filed in Baton Rouge, officials are accused of failing to fulfill their promises to place inmates in constitutionally acceptable facilities by spring 2023.
“Defendants promised safe and sanitary conditions. Defendants broke that promise, locking children in barred cells with only a metal bed and metal toilet/sink, unclean faucets, and no drinkable water source, and allowing excessive heat in the housing areas to go unremediated during this hot summer in Louisiana,” the juvenile advocates stated, Black Enterprise reports.
At Angola, juveniles are held separately from adult inmates. A medical expert’s affidavit noted that youth in prolonged solitary confinement experience a “significant risk of serious psychological harm.”
“The youth at OJJ Angola Unit are at substantial risk of serious physical and psychological harm due to their extensive and continued exposure to high temperatures and heat index during the summer months in Louisiana,” Dr. Susi Vassallo wrote, per The AP.
A July 7 AP report states that the juveniles currently housed at the country’s largest maximum-security adult prison will be moved to a youth detention facility by late fall.
Accordion to Curtis Nelson Jr., the deputy secretary of Louisiana’s Office of Juvenile Justice, 15 youths are currently housed at Angola. Governor John Bel Edwards granted permission to transfer them to a facility currently under construction in Monroe.
“As long as the weather continues to hold out” to complete construction, the juveniles should be relocated by late October or mid-November,” Nelson said.
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