The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) a cabinet-level Louisiana state agency that provides youth corrections services in the state.
The full official title of the agency is Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Youth Services, Office of Juvenile Justice (DPSC/YS/OJJ). The agency has its headquarters in the first floor of the State Police Building in Baton Rouge.
The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections previously handled the care of juvenile prisoners. In 2003 the Louisiana Legislature voted to turn the department's juvenile division into a cabinet level agency.
In 2004 the juvenile system separated from the adult system. It was established as the Office of Youth Development (OYD), and it was given its current name by the Louisiana Legislature in 2008.
Beginning with the creation of the OJJ, the agency adopted a model used by the Missouri Division of Youth Services, the youth corrections agency of Missouri. The OJJ worked together with that agency and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The state operates three secure institutions for boys.
The male institutions include:
Bridge City Center for Youth (BCCY) - Bridge City, unincorporated Jefferson ParishRiverside Alternative High School is located at BCCY.
By 2005 the center gained a "family intervention room." Around that time the center was being designed around the Missouri model, but staffing issues and issues with inmate behavior remained as of 2012. Turnover occurs since jobs with less stress but the same pay scale exist in the New Orleans metropolitan area, where Bridge City is situated.
A. L. Swanson, Sr. Center for Youth (SCY) - MonroeSouthside Alternative High School is located at SCY.
There is a branch center, Swanson Center for Youth at Columbia, which opened in 2013 in the former Columbia Community Residential and Employment Services (CCRES) center for disabled persons.
Acadiana Center for Youth (ACY) - Bunkie
In August 2014 construction began, and it is scheduled to open in 2016. It is on 20 acres (8.1 ha) of former agricultural land off of U.S. Highway 71.
The OJJ uses the Ware Youth Center to house adjudicated girls. It is located in unincorporated Red River Parish, about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) from Coushatta. The center is on 125 acres (51 ha) of land. The current facility opened in 2009; the 40,400-square-foot (3,750 m2) facility includes a 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) administration building, several cottages, and a 3,855-square-foot (358.1 m2) training building.
Former male institutions:
Louis Jetson Center for Youth (JCY) - unincorporated East Baton Rouge Parish, near Baton Rouge and Baker It as previously referred to as "Scotlandville" after the nearby community.Scenic Alternative High School was located at Jetson.
On October 1, 1948 the State Industrial School for Colored Youth, established that year by the Louisiana Legislature, opened. In 1956 it began housing both boys and girls. In 1969 racial desegregation occurred and the name became Louisiana Training Institute –East Baton Rouge. It became known as the "Louis Jetson Correctional Center for Youth", and then the "Louis Jetson Center for Youth", in 1995 and 2005, respectively. The Louisiana Legislature had ordered Jetson closed by June 30, 2009. Instead the center remained open, and after downsizing, it kept its name. At the end of the facility's life, only a portion of the campus was in use. 76 inmates were at Jetson prior to its closure.
The center closed on January 26, 2014. The prisoners were transferred to Bridge City and Swanson early that morning. The decision was not announced in advance.
Previously girls were housed in the old Ware Youth Center, the Florida Parishes Detention Center in Covington, and the Terrebonne Detention Center in Houma.
