Carol Kolinchak, Legal Director

Sonji Hart, Finance Director

Bridgette Butler, Youth Advocate

Sarah Covert, Policy & Media Coordinator

Chandra Grayson, Receptionist/Office Manager

Kelly Orians, Coordinator for Campaign to Abolish Juvenile Life Without Parole

Natalia Ventsko, Youth Advocate

Wesley Ware, Lead Youth Advocate

John Williams, Staff Attorney

FACT:  There are currently 3,500 inmates in the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), 2,700 of whom are “city prisoners.”  This represents the highest rate of detention of any urban jail in the country, and three times the national average.   A jail in New Orleans that was aligned with the national detention rate would have approximately 850 beds.  

FACT:  The Sheriff’s plans to rebuild OPP call for a 5,800-bed parish prison, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of people at OPP are in for non-violent, municipal, or traffic offenses that could be diverted, for a major cost-savings to the taxpayer and city government.

FACT:  While the cost to build the jail will fall mostly on FEMA, these funds could be spent on building other needed facilities, like substance abuse or mental health treatment centers.  The cost of operating the jail will fall entirely on the city government, at a cost of $22.39 per day for every individual held.  
 

Please make checks payable to:
JJPL (write “OPP campaign” on memo line)
Mail to: OPP Campaign, c/o JJPL, 1600 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113

*If sending a donation by check please include, your name, email address, phone number and a brief statement answering the question, “How should the city spend $22.39 rather than running a massive jail?”  

Call Voice of the Ex-Offender (VOTE) @ 504-894-8099

2010 Special Honorees
Gabriella Celeste
In recognition of her thirteen years of service and commitment to the development and growth of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
 
To Be Continued Brass Band
In recognition of their commitment to maintaining the longtime New Orleans musical tradition of brass bands and street music and for being agents of social change

Youth advocates celebrate 5 years of progress through community engagement and make further recommendations for reform

New Orleans, LA – The Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana has re-released Treated Like Trash, a 2006 report that detailed the stories of youth detained during Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent evacuations of the Youth Study Center and the Orleans Parish Prison.  The original report included stories of teenagers so hungry after days without food that they ate what floated by in the water, of skin peeling from sunburn, and of a mother who did not know where her son was for weeks.  The initial Treated Like Trash release led to a commitment by the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff to never again hold youth in the juvenile justice system at OPP. 

Along with the 2006 report, JJPL released an updated report called Trash to Triumph that celebrates the five-year community campaign that followed the tragedy and led to major steps to improve conditions at YSC.  “Although the work is far from over, the anniversary gives us the chance to recognize those who have improved the lives of youth in New Orleans,” said Dana Kaplan, Director of JJPL.  “Community organizations, citizens groups, families and friends of the youth, and the youth themselves have led a successful movement for a reformed juvenile justice system, persevering in the face of adversity.”

Demonstrating the true power of community to make change, New Orleans can now claim as a victory a new plan to improve the staffing, leadership, and treatment of youth detained, as well as the building of a new state of the art facility based on best practices.  This new plan, developed to include the FEMA mandate to build to the same scale as existed pre-Hurricane alongside a new emphasis to build based on the current needs of the city, now includes shelter care space and a behavioral health unit, rather than all secure detention beds.

Further, thanks to a successful lawsuit JJPL brought against the City of New Orleans of the Orleans Parish School Board in 2007, a Consent Decree is in place that requires nationally recognized court appointed experts to monitor compliance.   The settlement marks a renewed commitment by the City of New Orleans to a juvenile justice system that provides youth with quality education, proper mental healthcare, and other needed resources previously lacking – all in the best interests of both the youth and the city as a whole.

The Consent Decree includes mandates to:

• Increase staffing for the Youth Study Center,
• Increase training of all staff, to include such issues as suicide prevention, behavior and classroom management;
• Improve healthcare, including prohibiting staff from denying medical care to youth and increased medical and mental health staffing;
• Increase focus on programming, education and physical recreation;
• Hire a full-time superintendent;
• Increase staff by one social worker per unit.

While the City still has much more to do to meet expectations, as detailed in a checklist in the report, JJPL’s message is one of hope given the dedication of the new administration to youth in the city, as well as the progress that has been made in this arena to date.  As put by Ms. Kaplan, “The new Administration of the City has joined with us in pledging a commitment to further reform.  While there is much work left to be done, we are extremely hopeful that, five years after the storm exposed the problems endemic to our justice system, we can finally work together for real change and real public safety.”

The Executive Summary can be accessed HERE.  The full report is available online HERE.

YASS Members Jory King and Therineisha Honore Educate Community Members about School Security Concerns

YASS Members and JJPL Staff Tabling

See ABC 26 Coverage of YASS School Security Outreach Event: One Groups’ Push to Get Better Security for Students in RSD Schools

Since joining the staff in June 2008, John has worked to improve the conditions of confinement in juvenile facilities in Louisiana.  John recognizes the role that we all play in protecting children and communities and he pushes for systemic reform of the state’s juvenile justice system.  Showing his dedication to academic pursuits as well as improving the lives of young people, John’s most recent scholarly publication was the Impact of International Human Rights Law on Internally Displaced Gulf Coast Citizens published in the spring 2008 edition of the Mississippi Law Journal.  Prior to becoming a Staff Attorney at JJPL, John was the Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi and also served as an Assistant Attorney General in Arkansas.  John clerked for former Arkansas Supreme Court Justice the Honorable Ray Thornton.  John holds degrees from Xavier University of Louisiana and Alabama State University.  John received his law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law.  John is licensed to practice law in the state and federal courts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

As the Lead Youth Advocate, Wes has been advocating for the rights of incarcerated youth and the creation of community-based alternatives to incarceration.  He monitors the conditions of three secure care facilities in Louisiana, coordinates the investigation of federal litigation against New Orleans’ youth detention facility, and coordinates the LGBT HIV Project.  Wes serves on the Advisory Committee for the Equity Project, a national initiative to ensure that LGBT youth in juvenile delinquency courts are treated with dignity, respect and fairness.  Prior to coming to Louisiana, Wes worked on adult criminal justice issues at various social justice organizations in Georgia.  A native Southerner, Wes is a graduate of Georgia State University.

Natalia works as a youth advocate, youth organizer and attorney at JJPL.  Originally from San Francisco, California, Natalia is a consistent voice in JJPL’s fight to challenge the way the state handles young people in prisons.  A consummate advocate, her past experience working with youth involves working as a youth organizer with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, facilitating a mentorship program in her role as a community service coordinator for the A.P. Tureaud chapter of the Black Law Student Association, at Loyola College of Law and serving as a child advocate in individual cases.  Natalia has received a BA in Social Work from San Jose State University in 2006 and her Juris Doctorate from Loyola College of Law, New Orleans in 2009.   Natalia has been a member of the Louisiana Bar since 2010.