Louisiana juvenile offenders moved to Angola site

Ten high-risk juvenile offenders were transferred early Tuesday from the Bridge City Center for Youth in suburban New Orleans to a temporary facility housed at the state's maximum-security prison north of Baton Rouge, authorities said as the juvenile facility is not capable of housing violent offenders.

The transfer occurred after more than two dozen offenders escaped from the Bridge City youth center since April 2021 and the riots inside it throughout the year.

The teens are being kept in an old death row holding facility that once housed female inmates and is separated from the adult inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Inside, the two-story facility can house up to 24 young people. Officials said the expectation is to never hold that many at one time.

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the relocation plan months ago. The decision prompted a lawsuit filed by activists, families of the incarcerated teens and attorneys on behalf of the juveniles contending that the trauma of being housed at Angola would be irreversible. Edwards has said the juveniles will be transferred again to the Jetson Center for Youth in Baker once renovations there are complete.