Gov. John Bel Edwards was in Bunkie today to cut the ribbon on the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice’s new secure care facility for delinquent youth.
The Acadiana Center for Youth will serve offenders 14-to-20 years of age. The 72-bed facility includes classrooms, computers, vocational training as part of the Therapeutic Model instituted by OJJ several years ago.
According to the OJJ website, youth will be able to receive services closer to home at the center, with greater opportunities for meaningful family involvement and community re-integration. Research shows that youth whose families participate in their treatment are more successfully rehabilitated; they are more likely to re-integrate successfully into their communities; are less likely to re-offend; and more likely to remain in their communities as productive, wage-earning, tax-paying adults, the website states.
The facility will comprise nine buildings, including administration, housing units, gymnasium, a school with classrooms and a vocational-technical area, a kitchen and dining hall and maintenance buildings. Included on the site will be a soccer field and outdoor basketball court. A state-of-the art, 12 foot tall arched barrier (“candy cane”) no-climb fence will encircle the perimeter, the website states.
For more information on the center, click here.
