Previous Campaigns

The Close Tallulah Now! Campaign officially began in 2001 when FFLIC held it's mock "jazz funeral" to mourn the dying dreams of the children locked behind the bars Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth(TCCY). We didn't know it then that we were about to enter into a campaign that would last 3 years and we would have most of our demands met and TCCY doors closed!

The "Close Tallulah Now" campaign was officially launched in September, 2001, with a mock "jazz funeral" in New Orleans, spearheaded by FFLIC with the support of JJPL. The mock funeral symbolized the mourning of the dying dreams of Louisiana's incarcerated children. This event was the first major public event that garnered publicity in all the major media outlets in the state, including the leading story on Channel 9 news. Senator Donald Cravins, chair of the Senate Judiciary B Committee, participated in the event and vowed to do everything he could to close Tallulah. Orleans parish Juvenile Court Judge Mark Doherty also participated, along with scores of parents, youth and community members.
As a follow-up to the highly successful Jazz Funeral event, the Close Tallulah Now! campaign began to formulate a more deliberate strategy. FFLIC, JJPL lawyers and advocates wanted to orchestrate their myriad efforts to force the legislature to take action where the lawsuits could not. The goal was to combine legal, legislative and grassroots strategies focused on a single short-term goal: close Tallulah and use all the money saved toward community-based alternatives.

A hearing held in Senate Judiciary B Committee on May 7, 2002 brought all of the campaign components together - research, legislative education, grassroots and community outreach and media advocacy - in one major event. FFLIC members who came in buses from four locations around the state participated in a press conference and wreath-laying ceremony at the state's capitol and packed the hearing room. Interest was so high and FFLIC's presence so great that the legislature had to provide an overflow room and live feed of the audio of the testimony. The FFLIC members' major visible presence at the committee hearing kept legislators at the hearing - all members of the committee attended most of the several hour long hearing. The campaign provided support to the parents of youth at Tallulah who gave moving and tearful testimony to the legislators. All the state's media outlets covered the hearing, as a result of the campaign media outreach.

The May 7th hearing proved to be the highlight of the campaign on many levels. First, it got the legislature's attention and added credibility to Senator Cravins' efforts to close Tallulah. Not only did Senator Dardenne (the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee) stay for the duration, but Senator Hainkel (the President of the Senate) came in and listened to parts of the testimony, as did Rep. Mitch Landrieu (co-chair of the Juvenile Justice Commission established last year to study the juvenile justice system and make recommendations for reform in 2003) and Rep. Elcie Guillory. Second, it was a tremendous grassroots-based media event, with approximately 150-200 parents, children and concerned citizens on the steps of the capitol demanding that Tallulah be closed. Third, it was a very strong media event in terms of letters to the editor(s) and editorials. Having parents' letters in two different papers and an editorial by Shay Bilchik, President of the Child Welfare League of America, gave a sense of strong public and expert support for the principle that Tallulah must close. Fourth, and most importantly, it was the first time parents were provided a formal, public platform to share their stories about the abuses their children suffered at Tallulah and the other Louisiana juvenile facilities, and how their families were hurt as a result. The event was an affirmation of FFLIC's relevance in the public debate.

The development of a statewide Coalition for Effective Juvenile Justice Reform brought in new allies and broadened the campaign's base. Legal monitoring of the settlement agreements continued to put pressure on the Department of Public Safety & Corrections. And savvy legislative maneuvering built support in both the house and senate and from conservatives and liberals alike. The campaign even helped facilitate a trip for legislators, judges and department heads to Missouri to examine the juvenile justice system there-one based on treatment, education and respect for youth. One white, conservative Republican legislator who had previously been neutral on the issue came back completely converted from the experience of seeing facilities with no barbed wire, bars or cell blocks-and the resultant 7 percent recidivism rate compared to Louisiana's 70 percent. She stood in front of TV cameras declaring Louisiana needed to "close all of its secure care facilities" and implement a model like Missouri's-a demand more radical even than what the campaign was asking for.

"People said it could never happen," said Grace Bauer, a member of FFLIC whose son spent time in Louisiana's youth prisons. "But people underestimate the power of compassion and a commitment to justice." On June 4, 2004 the Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth closed it's doors to children.