Prison costs likely to be legislative issue

Louisiana juvenile justice system costs grow as state locks up more youth

Gov. Jeff Landry's administration plans to reopen the Jetson Center for Youth in Baker (pictured above). The juvenile justice facility was shut down over a decade ago. (Photo by Julie O'Donoghue/Louisiana Illuminator)The costs of running Louisiana’s juvenile justice system surged over the past seven years as elected officials decided to keep more teens and young adults in youth prisons.  Gov. Jeff Landry’s proposed budget for the Office of Juven…

Prison costs likely to be legislative issue

BATON ROUGE In 2016, Louisiana faced a $2 billion budget gap, and lawmakers decided they could no longer afford to lock so many people up.But in 2024, after a nationwide crime spike during the COVID pandemic, Gov. Jeff Landry reversed many of the changes, pushing through laws to keep offenders in jail longer, sending more juveniles to adult prisons and limiting the possibility of parole.Now costs are rising again, fueled by an increase in the st…