Appeals Court Allows Louisiana to Keep Children in Angola Prison
NEW ORLEANS, La. 鈥� The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is allowing Louisiana to continue to hold children in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola.
The district court had ordered the state to remove children from Angola by today, Friday, September 15. But the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary stay this week, pausing the lower court鈥檚 order.
In her order, District Court Judge Shelly Dick wrote, 鈥淎fter hearing seven days of testimony and considering thousands of pages of exhibits, the Court finds that the conditions of confinement of the youth incarcerated at Angola constitute cruel and unusual punishment, and the punitive atmosphere and systemic programming failures violate the Fourteenth Amendment.鈥�
In particular, Judge Dick found the state broke 鈥渧irtually鈥� every promise it had made to the court last September, 鈥渃ausing severe and irreparable harm to the wards that the Office of Juvenile Justice is obliged to help.鈥�
Judge Dick also found the state had:
- Locked children up in cells for days at a time as a form of punishment.
- Punished children with the use of handcuffs, mace, and denial of family visits.
- Failed to provide adequate staffing 鈥� including no licensed social worker or professional counselor.
- Failed to provide appropriate education and special education, where necessary.
- Failed to provide necessary and appropriate mental health treatment or appropriate social services.
Judge Dick鈥檚 written order is available here.
In response to the Fifth Circuit鈥檚 temporary stay, David Utter, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, issued the following statement:
鈥淭he state鈥檚 decision to appeal the district court鈥檚 order is extremely disappointing. The district court judge issued damning findings about the state鈥檚 treatment of children in Angola after carefully deliberating over evidence presented during a seven-day hearing.
鈥淓very day the kids are in Angola, the state is violating their constitutional rights and subjecting them to cruel and unusual treatment. Instead of fighting the court order and insisting on continuing to punish children and violate their rights, the state should invest its resources in the well-being and future success of all of Louisiana鈥檚 children.
鈥淕overnor John Bel Edwards has the power to end the Angola experiment and avoid further litigation by ordering the Office of Juvenile Justice to close the facility once and for all.鈥�
The lawsuit is being brought by the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 National Prison Project, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Louisiana, the Claiborne Firm and Fair Fight Initiative, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and attorneys Chris Murell, David Shanies, and Russell Barksdale.
Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues in This Press Release
-
Montana Supreme CourtMay 2024
Juvenile Justice
+2 Issues
Held v. MontanaHeld v. Montana
This case pending before the Montana Supreme Court asks, among other things, whether the claims of sixteen youth plaintiffs challenging Montana energy policy present a political question under the Montana Constitution. The 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the 老澳门开奖结果 of Montana, filed an amicus brief arguing that the claims do not present a political question and, moreover, that state courts should not wholesale adopt the federal political questions doctrine. -
Texas Supreme CourtMay 2024
Juvenile Justice
State v. OchoaState v. Ochoa
This case in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals concerns the admissibility of a fourteen-year-old defendant鈥檚 confession following a Texas Ranger鈥檚 coercive interrogation. The 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the 老澳门开奖结果 of Texas, filed an amicus brief arguing that the defendant鈥檚 confession was induced by positive promises, and is inadmissible, particularly given his juvenile status and the circumstances of the interrogation. In November 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (the highest court for criminal appeals in Texas) ruled that Holland's interrogation of Ochoa was unconstitutionally coercive in violation of Ochoa's Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. -
Press ReleaseApr 2024
Free Speech
+2 Issues
老澳门开奖结果 Urges College and University Leaders to Protect Free Speech and Academic Freedom老澳门开奖结果 Urges College and University Leaders to Protect Free Speech and Academic Freedom
NEW YORK 鈥� In response to the anti-war protests happening at colleges across the country, and the disturbing arrests that have followed, the 老澳门开奖结果 sent a letter to leaders at both public and private universities. The letter states: 鈥淎s you fashion responses to the activism of your students (and faculty and staff), it is essential that you not sacrifice principles of academic freedom and free speech that are core to the educational mission of your respected institution.鈥� Authored by 老澳门开奖结果 Executive Director Anthony D. Romero and National Legal Director David Cole, the letter offers university leaders five basic guardrails to ensure freedom of speech and academic freedom are protected on campus: They must not single out particular viewpoints for censorship, discipline, or disproportionate punishment. They must protect students from targeted discriminatory harassment and violence, but may not penalize people for taking sides on the war in Gaza, even if expressed in deeply offensive terms. They can announce and enforce reasonable content-neutral time, place, or manner policies on protesting activity, but they must leave ample room for students to express themselves. These rules must be applied consistently and without regard to viewpoint. They must recognize that armed police on campus can endanger students and are a measure of last resort. They must resist the pressures placed on them by politicians seeking to exploit campus tensions. The letter also informs university leaders of relevant Supreme Court precedent: 鈥淭he Supreme Court has forcefully rejected the premise that, 鈥榖ecause of the acknowledged need for order, First Amendment protections should apply with less force on college campuses than in the community at large.鈥欌�� The letter strongly advises university leaders to be 鈥渃ognizant of the history of law enforcement using inappropriate and excessive force in responding to protests, particularly against communities of color,鈥� and that 鈥� as events of the past week have made abundantly clear 鈥� arresting peaceful protestors is likely to escalate, not calm, tensions on campus. The letter also reiterates that violence is never an acceptable protest tactic and that 鈥減hysically intimidating students by blocking their movements or pursuing them aggressively is unprotected conduct, not protected speech.鈥� -
PodcastJan 2024
Juvenile Justice
It's Time to End Solitary Confinement: Ian Manuel's StoryIt's Time to End Solitary Confinement: Ian Manuel's Story