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Lawsuit says juvenile jail inhumane, "grossly unsanitary"06:24 PM CDT on Thursday, June 4, 2009 Katie Moore / Eyewitness News kmoore@wwltv.com
NEW ORLEANS – A federal, class-action lawsuit against the city of New Orleans alleging inhumane conditions at the city's juvenile jail is moving forward with a judge setting a deadline for the two sides to reach an agreement.Meantime, the group that filed the suit alleges conditions are still inhumane for juveniles being housed at the jail, called the Youth Study Center.The Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana filed the suit in December 2007, alleging juvenile inmates were locked up 20 hours a day in "grossly unsanitary" conditions.Speaking at a press conference outside Federal Court Thursday, 17-year-old Jerome Walker talked about his time as a former inmate at the Youth Study Center.“You have to take cold showers four at a time. The first day is automatic lockdown. The guards lock you down for no reason. Your last meal is at 4 p.m. So, everybody is hungry at night,” Walker said. “Jerome was in the Youth Study Center a year ago. But from reports that we continue to receive of children that are currently in the facility, conditions have not substantively improved,” said Juvenile Justice Project Executive Director Dana Kaplan.JJPL alleges there are no mental health services at the center, that inmates are often denied necessary medication, and that they're still locked down much of the day.The city agreed to mediate JJPL's lawsuit through the court. Thursday's hearing established that national experts will research the center and make recommendations to improve it.“By agreeing to mediate, the city certainly does not admit that those conditions exist or that we've done anything wrong,” said Nolan Lambert, chief deputy city attorney for New Orleans.“What we've agreed to do is mediate it, meet with the expert, consider the issues that the plaintiff has brought forth and see if there's a middle ground we could reach to terminate the litigation,” Lambert said.JJPL remained skeptical that the city will implement any recommendations.They said the same experts made an array of recommendations two years ago, but that nothing changed. It’s a charge the city denies.“That's not true,” Lambert said.“If the city is going to take seriously the process of settling this lawsuit and take seriously the process of improving its public safety system, they're going to have to recognize that there are fundamental problems in that facility,” said Kaplan.U.S. District Court Judge Ivan Lamelle said if the two sides don’t work out a mediation plan by Aug. 20, he'll set a trial date for the lawsuit against the city to move forward.The city renovated part of the facility after it flooded during Katrina, and according to the city's recovery website, FEMA has obligated nearly $20 million dollars to build a new one. But the project isn't slated to begin construction until 2010.
For the original article and video of the press conference, go to WWLTV by clicking here.
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