By Meghan Friedmann
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
ANGOLA, La. — Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola doesn’t have enough beds to house violent offenders, Gov. Jeff Landry said in an executive order declaring a state of emergency that will allow the prison to swiftly reopen a notorious part of the facility that was shuttered due to significant safety concerns.
The order, which took effect July 25 and will last until Aug. 23 unless extended, allows the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to suspend procurement and public bidding rules to hasten repairs to Camp J, which was closed in 2018.
The order indicates the state will transfer “violent offenders who require the highest degree of security” to Angola, but that Angola currently lacks adequate bedspace to accommodate them.
Camp J was once one of the most restrictive segments of Angola, used to discipline inmates who fought with weapons or otherwise committed serious offenses. It had four cell blocks that held more than 400 individual cells for solitary confinement.
In the first seven months of 2017, dozens of weapons were found at Camp J , Landry’s executive order says. Within a year, about 85 corrections officers assigned to the complex resigned, retired or were fired “due to the complex challenges presented there.”
Locks for cells in Camp J malfunctioned, allowing inmates to jam cell doors and circumvent security checks, the order says.
” Camp J and the surrounding infrastructure requires facility improvements to adequately hold any violent offenders and to protect the lives of any employees, contractors, or members of the public who may be within Camp J at any time,” Landry’s order says.
The state of emergency applies to Camp J and its surrounding infrastructure within Angola, according to the order.
A spokesperson for Landry declined to comment on this story.
The Department of Public Safety & Corrections did not answer questions Friday about its plans for Camp J , instead issuing a statement.
“The reasons for the repairs needed at Camp J are set forth in the Governor’s Executive Order, JML-25-084,” the statement said. “The Department is working to develop a timeline for the necessary structural repairs pursuant to the Executive Order.
When Camp J shut down in 2018, criminal justice advocates praised the state’s decision to close it. Then-Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc said the move aligned with a plan to improve how Louisiana prisons securely keep inmates separated from each other.
On Friday, criminal justice advocates said prison overcrowding was a predictable result of a set of ‘tough-on-crime’ laws the Louisiana Legislature passed last year at Landry’s behest. The new laws lengthened prison sentences and eliminated parole for adults who committed crimes after Aug. 1, 2024.
Advocates also had qualms about the possible reopening of Camp J.
“Not only will men continue to swelter at Camp J, but they will also endure either overcrowding in solitary cells or be kept in isolation – a severe punishment that extensive research has shown to be tantamount to abuse, torture, and is dangerous and ineffective,” Samantha Kennedy, executive director of the Promise of Justice Initiative, said in a statement.
The Promise of Justice Initiative is a New Orleans-based group that advocates for incarcerated people.
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