CITY OFFICIALS SUED OVER EGREGIOUS MISMANAGMENT OF JUVENILE FACILITY

LAWSUIT FILED TODAY CITING CHILDREN HELD IN CRUEL

AND INHUMANE CONDITIONS AT THE YOUTH STUDY CENTER

New Orleans, Louisiana – Unsafe conditions, psychological abuse, and lack of access to medical care are part of a pattern of gross mismanagement at the problem-plagued Youth Study Center (YSC), according to a civil rights class action lawsuit filed today against the City of New Orleans in Federal District Court. Amidst mounting concerns over conditions of confinement at the city’s youth jail, the lawsuit, filed by the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) and Holland & Knight law firm names top city officials as defendants, including Mayor Ray Nagin, Director of Health and Human Services Richard Winder, Social Services Coordinator Mubarak Kareem, Superintendent of the Youth Study Center Ozzie Williams and The Orleans Parish School Board. 

These inhumane conditions were uncovered by JJPL who has been monitoring the facility and interviewing children held at the YSC over the past year. The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of all children who are now or in the future will be confined at the YSC, claims that the conditions at the facility violate the constitution and the children's civil rights.  According to the civil rights action, the illegal conditions of confinement include "grossly unsanitary conditions, inadequate medical care, cruel psychological and verbal harassment and abuse, improper and excessive use of lockdown, inadequate education, and other unconscionable and illegal conditions of confinement."

Despite repeated and known complaints of inhumane conditions and examples of gross mismanagement of the facility, the defendants, including Mayor Nagin and Richard Winder, have taken no meaningful steps toward reform.  “Even FEMA declared the facility irreparably damaged, yet we have seen no improvement in YSC in the two years since Hurricane Katrina," said Attorney Carol Kolinchak, Legal Director of JJPL. “The city needs to address the gross mismanagement at the Youth Study Center. Children are kept in an inhumane jail that does not work to protect their constitutional rights nor to improve public safety.” 

The international law firm Holland & Knight joins JJPL as co-counsel on the case. Holland & Knight's Community Services Team is nationally recognized for its work on prison reform and civil rights.  "The conditions of confinement of these children at YSC are among the worst that we have encountered," said Stephen Hanlon, partner, Holland & Knight.  "The city of New Orleans has not only failed the children they detain, but also the communities to which they ultimately return them."

The horrible conditions, mismanagement and poorly trained staff at YSC stand in stark contrast to the rest of the juvenile justice system, which, led by the Juvenile Court, is engaged in a reform process that is rebuilding the juvenile justice system based on-evidence based best practices. 

“The Youth Study Center remains the black-eye of reform in New Orleans,” said JJPL Director Dana Kaplan.  “City-sponsored child abuse does not build a safer city.  I challenge the mayor, Richard Winder, and any of the other defendants to allow their children to spend an hour, much less a night, week or month at YSC.  It is past time to replace YSC with a small facility that is safe, humane, and staffed by well-trained professionals, and to invest in programs that actually work to improve public safety.”

A copy of the lawsuit can be accessed at: www.jjpl.org/litigation/ysccomplaint.doc

For additional information or to speak with JJPL staff and Holland and Knight attorneys, please contact: Charles Easterling 251.509.2560

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