By Ellyn Couvillion
The Advocate
NAPOLEONVILLE — It’s been a steep learning curve for Sheriff Mike Waguespack and his staff since they opened the new Assumption Parish Youth Detention Center six months ago.
The sheriff first offered the idea of the center late last year when a youth detention center in St. James Parish made plans to close — the center closed last summer rather than try to spend the money it would take to meet new state regulations that went into effect in July 2013. The timing seemed right, Waguespack said, since a new adult detention center was set to open in Assumption Parish, and the old center could be used to house juvenile offenders.
“I would say it’s more of a challenge than I anticipated, to be honest,” Waguespack said Friday, but added that he’s never been discouraged by a challenge. “We’re also taking care of a tremendous need in this region,” he said.
Waguespack is looking for input and guidance from the Louisiana Juvenile Detention Association, which was active in drawing up the new state regulations for juvenile detention centers.
Members of the association visited Assumption’s youth center in Napoleonville recently and found areas for improvement that must be fixed or they could endanger the center’s license, Glenn Holt, president of the association, said Friday.
The association, which will be working with the center to help make those improvements, suggested better staff training, improved education services for the youths and more programs for them such as a social skills group, said Holt, who also is superintendent of the Youth Study Center, the juvenile detention center in New Orleans.
Full story: Detention center aims to give youths structure