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| Louisiana Judge Shakes Up Juvenile Prison System |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/07/2003 |
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An unusual legal battle over teenage inmates could shed some light on Louisiana's juvenile prisons, and perhaps tell us whether they've become safer since investigations found them plagued by violence. Judge Mark Doherty started things by doing what no Louisiana juvenile court judge had ever done: On Nov. 12, he ordered the state Department of Corrections to remove inmates from the Tallulah prison and lock them up them somewhere else. Tallulah is too violent, Doherty said. Corrections appealed the ruling, and the case has landed back in Doherty's court. A hearing is scheduled for next month. The conflict boils down to passages in Louisiana's Children's Code, the lawbook for the state's juvenile courts. Young lawbreakers must be treated fairly, the code says, and the responsibility falls on both juvenile court judges and state prison officials. The question is: Where does a judge's responsibility end and the state's begin? Richard Stalder, secretary of the Department of Corrections, oversees all Louisiana's juvenile and adult prisons. The Children's Code says Stalder's office has 'sole authority over treatment, placement, care' of juvenile convicts. They're his problem, his responsibility. But the code also tells judges like Doherty to keep those children out of harm's way. The code tells judges to make sure juvenile prison inmates get care 'as nearly as possible equivalent to that which his parents should have given him.' Prison officers aren't known for providing motherly care. But that's what the code says, and Doherty takes it literally. He says conditions at Tallulah are unconstitutional. Doherty, 40, is a Republican from overwhelmingly Democratic New Orleans. He was elected juvenile court judge in 1999, after serving on the Orleans Parish School Board and working as a prosecutor in District Attorney Harry Connick's office. Child advocates praise him. 'The whole purpose of the Children's Code is to rehabilitate kids, and reunite them with their families. That's the basis that Judge Doherty usually tries to go back and reinforce,' said Cornelia Ullman, a lawyer who worked in Doherty's court as a public defender and case manager. The teenagers Doherty wants moved from Tallulah were found guilty in his court of crimes including simple battery, armed robbery and resisting a police officer. The state Supreme Court sent the case back to Doherty, saying he needed to investigate whether conditions at Tallulah are unconstitutional. At the hearing, Doherty will listen to evidence from Corrections lawyers, who will call witnesses and present documents to prove Tallulah is safe. Lawyers with the Juvenile Justice Project, a nonprofit law firm representing the teens, will argue it's not. |
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