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| Subject: Juvenile Justice & New Orleans - Katrina Evacuation | |
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Author: Mark Tirpak |
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Date Posted: 13:35:12 09/28/06 Thu In reply to: Mark Tirpak 's message, "New Orleans / Katrina Resources" on 12:57:35 09/28/06 Thu FYI - from today's NY Times. Planning students might be interested in reading more about the home incarceration movement. Also, check out the 7 factors that the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana highlight as putting Louisiana youth at risk (after the article) - I guess, along with the current justice system? What role can planning play in addressing some of these factors? Teenage Prisoners Describe Hurricane Horrors By Adam Nossiter The New York Times Wednesday 10 May 2006 New Orleans - More than 100 teenagers held in detention during Hurricane Katrina endured horrific conditions in the storm's aftermath, including standing for hours in filthy floodwater, having nothing to eat and drink for three to five days, and being forced to consume the waters as a result, according to a report released here Tuesday. The report was prepared by the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, a group that has long advocated changes in the state's troubled juvenile system. It was based on interviews with more than 60 teenagers held at the Orleans Parish Prison during the storm, as well as with prison staff members. Youths who were interviewed described water rising in their darkened cells and a scramble onto top bunks to avoid it. They also said that when they were finally rescued - in some cases, after several days - they experienced dizziness and dehydration because of lack of food. One reported being "roped together" with plastic handcuffs as he and others were led out through neck-high water. "There was food floating in the water and we tried to catch it and eat it; that's how hungry we were," said one 15-year-old identified as E. F. in the report. T.G., 16, said, "Kids were going crazy, shaking their cells for food and water." Another youth, R.S., 16, said: "We went five days without eating. Kids were passing out in their cells." Among the many wrenching stories of evacuation after Hurricane Katrina, including the chaotic removal of more than 7,000 prisoners from the Orleans Parish Prison, that of the teenagers ranks as one of the more disturbing - an anarchic portrait of about 150 youthful inmates fending for themselves in dire conditions. The prison was under the supervision of Marlin Gusman, the Orleans Parish criminal sheriff, who, through a spokeswoman, declined to respond to the report. The authors of the report said city and parish officials should have ordered the prison to be evacuated but lacked a formal plan to do so. The report described what happened after the storm as symptomatic of a juvenile justice system recognized as one of the country's worst, an outpost of a sprawling prison empire where more people were locked up, per capita, than in any other state. Only a week ago, a federal judge in Baton Rouge released the juvenile system from Justice Department control, six years after Louisiana was ordered to make changes and after numerous investigations and lawsuits. Several youth prisons in the state had achieved infamy as places of routine beatings and systematic deprivation, and federal authorities concluded that conditions were unconstitutional. For years, advocates and a handful of state legislators had pushed for an overhaul but had met with resistance from state prison bureaucrats and indifference from elected Louisiana officials. Finally, the Legislature agreed in 2003 to a series of changes, shutting down the most notorious youth prison, in the northern part of the state. At the same time, Louisiana agreed to move away from simply locking up hundreds of teenage offenders, instituting a more residential model of incarceration, as other states were doing. But those changes, while lauded by advocates, were not all in place in August of last year, and the teenagers taken handcuffed and shackled to the Orleans Parish Prison ahead of the hurricane were exposed to the deficiencies of the old system. "They left us in there with no food and no water," said Eddie Fenceroy, 15, a former detainee against whom charges have since been dismissed, advocates said. Mr. Fenceroy described standing in the floodwater for "a whole day" before being rescued. "Some people were drinking the water," he said. The advocacy group's director, David J. Utter, said that in a telephone conversation Monday evening, Sheriff Gusman pledged not to continue holding juveniles in the jail system here. ------- Growing Up in Louisiana - Putting our Kids at Risk: http://www.jjpl.org/WhatsHappeningToOurKids/GrowingUpInLouisiana/growingup.html Poverty Poverty is at the root of many risk factors for youth, including health, academic success and delinquency. In 2004 Louisiana’s poverty rate was the very worst in the nation, with an estimated 882,000 people living below the poverty line. 28 percent of children live in poverty statewide, with the highest percentage (up to 53 percent) in the rural northeast parishes. New Orleans, where 40 percent of children live in poverty, is the third poorest city in the nation for children according to The Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The Census Bureau reported that more than 19 percent of Louisiana’s residents had no health insurance. Illness Louisiana ranks 50th, the worst in the nation, in overall health indicators, such as disease rate. Lack of access to routine and preventive health care is a major contributor to Louisiana’s poor health status; we also rank last in terms of access to primary health care. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of poor health. Low birth weight is a significant indicator of poor health and is linked to many physical and neuro-developmental problems. Louisiana ranks 50th in the nation with the highest rate of low birth weight among infants (10%). Pollutants Lead is one of the major contaminants; exposure has shown to be especially harmful to developing brain and nervous systems of young children. Louisiana is a national leader in the per capita production of hazardous wastes and in the amount of chemicals released into our air, water and soil. As of 1998, there were 128 confirmed and 342 potential (requiring further investigation) inactive and abandoned hazardous waste sites. Mental Illness Approximately 110,450 children (10%) in Louisiana suffer from a serious emotional disorder; yet there are only three state hospitals that provide in-patient psychiatric treatment to children. This figure does not include all the youth suffering from depression, the most common under-diagnosed condition in young people. School Louisiana spends on average $4,724 per child’s education and ranks 48th in the country for lowest teacher salaries. The equivalent of more than two classrooms of young people drop out every day and about 50,000 students are absent from school on any given day. A child in middle school is more likely to be suspended or expelled than an high school student. Recreation Spending on after-school activities, such as band, extended day programs, and athletics, amounts to less than 2% of Louisiana’s total school costs, despite research demonstrating that after-school programming can both build youth’s strengths and reduce risk-taking behavior. Violence & Abuse Every day, 40 children are reported as abused or neglected in Louisiana. In 1998, 14,791 children were reported abused and 5,911 children were placed in foster care. Louisiana ranked 45th for child death rate (34 of 100,000 children die each year) and 47th for the rate of teen deaths by accident, homicide or suicide. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 2004; 2004 Annie E. Casey Kids Count Data Book. La. DHH, 2000 Louisiana Health Report Card, p.154, 157; Annie E. Casey Foundation, Kids Count Data Book 2004 Annie E. Casey Kids Count Data Book. La. DHH, 2000 Louisiana Health Report Card, p.124-126. La. DHH, La. Adolescent Data Book, p.31 U.S. DOE, "State Profiles of Public Elementary and Secondary Education, 1996-97" p.25; Agenda For Children, Kids Count Data Book 200, p. viii; La. DOE, 1998-99 La. State Education Progress report, p.17-19. OJJDP, Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, p.65; La. DOE, 150th Annual Financial & Statistical Report 1998-99I, Bulletin 1472, p.II-2. Annie E. Casey Foundation, Kids Count Data Book 2000, p.89; Agenda for Children, 1999 Kids Count Data Book, p.vii. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Purging the Poor - New Orleans Occupancy Rates | Mark Tirpak | 14:14:12 09/28/06 Thu |
| Occupancy Rates argument - the math | Mark Tirpak | 17:44:14 10/03/06 Tue |