Louisiana ordered to remove teens from 'intolerable' conditions at state prison
Louisiana has until Friday to remove children from its notorious state penitentiary at Angola after a federal judge found they were being held in “intolerable” conditions that included prolonged solitary confinement, punishment with mace and handcuffs, and inadequate education and mental health care.
The ruling brings to a climax a year-long battle between civil rights groups and the state of Louisiana, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Angola prison, named after the African country from which enslaved people were forcibly brought to work on the plantation where the penitentiary is located, has a reputation for penal brutality and violence.
Up to 80 children – almost all Black boys, some as young as 15 – have been brought to Angola since October 2022 and housed in cells in which condemned death row prisoners used to await execution. The move followed turmoil in the state’s juvenile detention institutions, which have struggled with understaffing, riots and frequent breakouts.
Rights groups immediately denounced the transfer, saying Angola was entirely inappropriate as a site for captive children. Led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Fair Fight Initiative, they began legal proceedings that culminated in a seven-day hearing last month and Friday’s federal court order.
Antonio Travis of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children said he was relieved the judge had ordered the release of juveniles from Angola. “This decision is long overdue,” Travis said, “and it’s shameful that it has taken a lawsuit and federal intervention to try to make the [state] do the right thing for our kids.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/11/louisiana-angola-prison-teens-conditions
Lousyanna. JFC, adults shouldn't even be held in these conditions, let alone kids!