There's a bill pending in the current session that would allow the Acadiana Regional Juvenile Justice District to levy up to one cent of sales tax in its parishes.
The district was created by the legislature a couple of years ago, and includes Acadia, Allen, Evangeline, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion parishes. The purpose was to come up with a solution to a growing issue: More and more juveniles arrested, and no place to house them.
The bill pending in the current session would allow the district to ask voters in those parishes to collect a one-cent sales tax. The plan is to ask voters for one cent for only one year, then reduce the tax to a quarter-cent thereafter. The one-cent tax for those parishes would raise about $80 million in one year, and that money would be used to build a juvenile jail to serve those parishes.
The aim is to build a 100-125 bed facility; because the district is paying for it only juvenile offenders from those parishes would be housed there. The quarter-cent tax would raise about $20 million a year - and that would be used for maintenance and upkeep on the building, and operate the jail.
St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard, who is chair of the district's board, said a decision about a location hasn't been made, but it makes sense to build it north of I-10.
"We've been discussing this for several months, and we're thinking it will have to be north of I-10 because of hurricanes, evacuations and insurance," Bellard said. "The insurance rates are so much higher south of I-10 and if we had to evacuate them, where would we go?"
Bellard said it's likely the facility will be built close to Lafayette, because it will need lots of employees.
The district wants to build a facility that will go beyond just warehousing juvenile offenders, he said.
"The whole premise behind this is, we don't want just put them in facility to sit there until their time is up. We want the exact opposite of that," Bellard said. "We want to give them tools to educate themselves, to be ready to work, to send them back into the real world ready to be more, to be a part of society."
Now, juvenile offenders often are just stuck into a facility without programs.
"We can't do that," Bellard said. "We've got to change that. We have to stop doing that."
Bellard remembered that back when he was an arson investigator, he arrested the same kid multiple times - starting when he was only 10 years old. If he did get sent to jail, the young man just came out a smarter criminal, Bellard said.
"We're not going to be able to change 100 percent of them, but we can't give up on all of them," he said.
Bellard said that, as soon as the bill is passed and the board makes a final decision, they'll start meeting with voters to talk about what they're trying to do. He said the vote probably will be on a March 2026 ballot, so there will be plenty of time to get information out and answer questions about the plan.
Right now, St. Landry Parish is paying Jackson Parish about $250 per day per juvenile to house prisoners. That's running about $50,000 per month.
We asked Acadia Parish Sheriff KP Gibson, who also is a member of the district, what his parish is paying. Acadia also has a contract with Jackson, paying about the same amount per day. As of Thursday, there are seven Acadia Parish juveniles in that facility, meaning the parish is paying about $58,000 per month.
