Louisiana youths held at adult prison’s old death row suffer heat, isolation, advocates say
By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Advocates for juveniles held in a former death row building at a Louisiana prison for adults say the youths are suffering through dangerous heat and psychologically damaging isolation in their prison cells with little or no mental health care, inadequate schooling and foul water. In a federal court filing in Baton Rouge, they ask a judge to end the practice of holding some juvenile detainees at the state penitentiary in Angola. The document says state officials have broken promises to provide constitutionally acceptable facilities for young people housed at the Angola facility. The state Office of Juvenile Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
