Louisiana has until Friday to remove children from its notorious state penitentiary at Angola after a federal judge found they were being held in “intolerable” conditions that included prolonged solitary confinement, punishment with mace and handcuffs, and inadequate education and mental health care.
The ruling brings to a climax a year-long battle between civil rights groups and the state of Louisiana, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Angola prison, named after the African country from which enslaved people were forcibly brought to work on the plantation where the penitentiary is located, has a reputation for penal brutality and violence.
Up to 80 children – almost all Black boys, some as young as 15 – have been brought to Angola since October 2022 and housed in cells in which condemned death row prisoners used to await execution. The move followed turmoil in the state’s juvenile detention institutions, which have struggled with understaffing, riots and frequent breakouts.
Rights groups immediately denounced the transfer, saying Angola was entirely inappropriate as a site for captive children. Led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Fair Fight Initiative, they began legal proceedings that culminated in a seven-day hearing last month and Friday’s federal court order.
Antonio Travis of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children said he was relieved the judge had ordered the release of juveniles from Angola. “This decision is long overdue,” Travis said, “and it’s shameful that it has taken a lawsuit and federal intervention to try to make the [state] do the right thing for our kids.”
In her ruling, US district judge Shelly Dick denounced the state for failing to meet the standards that it had set itself. “Virtually every promise that was made was broken,” she said, setting a 15 September deadline for the removal of the teenagers from Angola.
Dick listed the violations that had been perpetrated on the children which she said amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. They included solitary confinement, known as “cell restriction”, which could last five or six days, or in one case 14 consecutive days.
Officials had promised that the juveniles would only be placed in solitary confinement in the old death row cells overnight. Numerous scientific studies have found that being held in isolation can cause mental health problems, even for adults, in a matter of days.
The teens have been held in an old building that regularly has failing air conditioning, leading to baking temperatures. Last month, Louisiana’s governor, John Bel Edwards, declared a state of emergency across the state over extreme heat.
Dick found that children were frequently punished with the use of restraints and denial of family visits. One teen was maced in his cell, and when the judge visited Angola she saw juveniles eating meals or playing cards while handcuffed.
Only one of three classrooms was in operation, forcing the juveniles to spend half of their school day learning alone inside their cells. Dick condemned the provision of mental health services as “anemic”.
In July, in court documents, some of the detained juveniles described through their guardians the conditions in which they were being held. Daniel D, 16, wrote that he was held in solitary confinement and was “frustrated and not feeling well … the water in my cell is not drinkable. It is extremely hot and the fans don’t always work.”
Charles C wrote in a declaration that “my cell is incredibly small and I have no room to move. I worry about my mental health because I’m forced to be in these cells. The guards here don’t care about me or the kids here. They want me to act out but I won’t.”
The lead counsel in the lawsuit challenging the incarceration of children at Angola, David Utter, said that the removal order was the result of the bravery of some of the children and their families “in speaking out and standing up against this cruelty”.
He added: “Now, it is time for Louisiana’s leaders to provide the appropriate care and support so all children can thrive and reach their full potential. We demand investment in our children, not punishment.”
State officials have vowed to lodge an emergency appeal against the removal decision. They argue that many of the juveniles have been involved in violence and pose a threat to themselves or others.
