Several local officials gathered at the Louisiana State Capitol on Tuesday, July 11 for the ceremonial bill signing of Representative Greg Miller’s HB359, a bill designed to directly benefit St. Charles Parish and other nearby parishes.
Miller’s HB359, now known as Act 145, creates the River Parishes Juvenile Justice District, which will serve the parishes of St. Charles, Ascension, Assumption, St. James and St. John.
Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the bill into law with Miller, 40th Judicial District Attorney Bridget Dinvaut, 29th Judicial District Court Judge Tim Marcel and District Public Defender Fenwick Swann III in attendance. Miller’s bill was supported by local officials like Dinvaut, Swann and Marcel, and was later unanimously approved in the House and Senate during the 2023 legislative session.
“This has been a cooperative effort,” fueled by “a great need, Dinvaut said.
The new bill will create a commission to provide for facilities and related services for children in the juvenile justice system in need of care and supervision in the River Parishes. At present time no such facility exists for the River Parishes, which Miller said in previous interviews has resulted in an expensive outsourcing of services to centers in Terrebonne or St. Bernard parishes, and even to facilities in Mississippi at times when space was limited.
Miller commented at the signing it would be “cost prohibitive for individual parishes” to try to provide housing that meet current federal and state requirements. The commission created for the River Parishes Juvenile Justice District, whose center site has not yet been chosen, will later explore numerous factors, costs and location options.
An important benefit of housing young offenders nearby within the River Parishes, Marcel said, is “family involvement in the rehabilitation process,” which is made more difficult when juvenile justice facilities are located many miles away from families.
As a local public defender, Swann added that besides helping families, the new River Parishes Juvenile Justice center would make it “easier for attorneys to visit our clients” to assure their rehabilitation needs are being met.
HB359 aims to help rectify such issues by creating a new juvenile justice facility closer to St. Charles Parish and the other River Parishes.
“It’s modeled on the Florida Parishes Juvenile Justice Center, which has just done a fantastic job,” Miller said earlier regarding the facility HB359 was designed after.
Considered by lawmakers as a successful model already operating a centrally located center serving multiple parishes, the Florida Parishes Juvenile Justice Center currently serves Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes. Miller says he consulted with the director of the Florida Parishes Juvenile Justice Center during the process of developing HB359.
Gov. Edwards said he was proud to sign the bill.
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