Current Campaigns

State of the State-wide Reform Efforts
Juvenile Justice Reform in Louisiana

While much of FFLIC’s usual work was disrupted for months following Hurricane Katrina and Rita, we haven’t forgotten our focus on statewide juvenile justice transformation. Apparently, neither has the Office of Youth Development (OYD)!
OYD released their 5 year plan on December 12th, 2005 and in it, FFLIC finds many of the necessary steps to real success. We believe some things are missing however. And most of all, we know that parent and family involvement at all stages of implementation will be necessary to reach the best possible results and ensure that our system is one that supports youth and their families.

As our supporters and allies know, FFLIC is fighting for the closure of Swanson and Jetson Centers for Youth and for an increase in community based services that help our children grown and thrive in their own homes and communities. While OYD’s plan does not actually call for the closure of these facilities, we are heartened that many aspects of the plan, including regionalization, an emphasis on developing a continuum of services (including community based care), and a stated commitment to engaging families in the rehabilitation and treatment of their children may result in precisely that. With the state population at 433 (as of December, 2005) and falling, we are encouraged that OYD is holding fewer children than ever and that conditions for these youth are vastly improved.

But we also think the plan could use a more detailed and specific strategy to engage and involve parents in their children’s lives while in OYD custody. FFLIC is conducting focus groups with members across the state to get ideas and feedback to provide to OYD. Parents and families need to be viewed as the valuable resources they are to a child’s development and OYD must develop a more sophisticated understanding of how to engage families or our final goals of reform will not be reached. If you have ideas on how OYD can do better with involving parents and families, call us today so we can pass them on!

Further, we must continue to let OYD know that we do not think that Swanson and Jetson should remain open. FFLIC continues to hear reports of abuse and mistreatment at Jetson and we feel this should not go unaddressed. Change takes time, but children should not have to suffer while the state makes necessary changes. Jetson should be closed this year and the funding redirected into community based services.

Other News
In other news, we are also pleased that the Governor’s office has engaged the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) to continue the work of reform on the local level. JDAI will help several jurisdictions reduce their over-reliance on detention and their disproportionate confinement of minority youth. In regular-speak, that means locking up fewer kids and getting rid of racism in the system! FFLIC will be working with JDAI at several sites, ensuring that the voices, ideas and expertise of parents and families are part of the planning and implementation process. Are you a member in the Shreveport, LC, New Orleans or Baton Rouge region who wants to help JDAI succeed? Call us today!

For those who didn’t know, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is finally getting started with their Louisiana work. Back in June the foundation announced the choice of Louisiana as the fourth site selected for its “Models For Change” initiative. Participation in the initiative means grants of up to $1.5 million per year for the next five years in Louisiana, starting with a planning phase and then moving to implementation. Funds will go to state and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, and others engaged in juvenile justice efforts. Recently, Ms. Deb Deprato of LSU Heath Sciences Center along with the Board of Regents was appointed to direct the initiative. We sincerely hope that Ms. Deprato and the MacArthur Foundation will actively reach out to FFLIC and all families of incarcerated and at risk youth for guidance as they move forward with their contribution to reform.

Lastly, the state has moved to be dismissed from the long standing lawsuit brought by the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) many years ago challenging the constitutionality of conditions in Louisiana’s juvenile prisons. FFLIC cannot overstate how pleased (and proud) we are that, finally, conditions in our secure care facilities have improved so dramatically as to make this possible. But we are wary that without the oversight of the courts and the JJPL, conditions may again start to deteriorate. FFLIC can and must take action to be sure this doesn’t happen! Join us in reaching out to all families with children in OYD custody. It is through a strong FFLIC that we can keep ourselves and the public informed as to what is truly going on in our facilities and hold OYD accountable. Our children demand that we, as FFLIC, stay vigilant and informed. As the transformation of our juvenile justice system continues, we say, “Forward Forever, Backward Never.”

What do we want? Safe Streets and Strong Communities!
When do we want it? NOW!

FFLIC’s New Orleans chapter has joined a new coalition committed to rebuilding a criminal justice system in New Orleans – one that builds safe streets and strong communities for everyone regardless of race or class.

By now, we have all heard of the horrors that children and adults suffered who were left behind in detention centers as the waters rose and the city’s infrastructure collapsed. We have all watched on TV as the New Orleans Police Department brutalized Mr. Robert Davis in the French Quarter and shot Mr. Anthony Hayes dead on St. Charles Avenue. Further, the already broken indigent defense system on New Orleans is edging toward total collapse. Currently there are thousands of people without legal representation, spread out across the state, literally lost in the system with no idea of when they will be released – some who have sat for months never having seen a judge or lawyer, some with no charges ever brought against them. How can this happen? FFLIC says, don’t believe that its because of Katrina and Rita! No, this can happen because our criminal justice and juvenile justice system in New Orleans was so broken before the storms that there was no protection, no defense, no chance at a less horrific outcome. But we can do something to change all this. FFLIC supports Safe Streets’ call for a nationwide search for a new Police Chief and the creation of an Office of an Independent Monitor to oversee police policy and procedures. FFLIC also calls for a new juvenile and adult indigent defense office, one that is politically independent, well funded and based in best practices so that it can provide quality services to poor people accused of crimes. Lastly, FFLIC demands that the city put not one dollar into rebuilding the dungeons that passed for juvenile detention centers in our Parish. For the very few children who need to be detained pre-trial, a small, humane child-centered facility should be built and capable, competent, pro-child staff should be hired to run it. Brutal police, ineffective public defenders and horrific conditions of detention do not make us safe! There is a better way to keep our communities safe and it starts with holding those accountable who have been mandated to do just that for years and have failed.