WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Officials say new Livingston jail filling quickly

Officials say new Livingston jail filling quickly

By Tyana Williams - bio | email

LIVINGSTON, LA (WAFB) - It is a brand new facility, but Sheriff Willie Graves says the new Livingston Parish Detention Center is almost filled to capacity.

The center just opened on Jan. 31. By March, officials were already predicting they would need another wing. Now, some inmates are being moved to other parishes to handle the overcrowding.

Walking the halls of the B block, deputies are surrounded by some of the most hardened criminals. These inmates are in the maximum security unit in Livingston. A unit that is quickly running out of space.

The jail also holds more than 100 state inmates. Some of those are in the maximum facility. In March, Warden Jim Brown predicted when those prisoners came, there would be little room for new parish prisoners. Parish President Mike Grimmer says what it boils down to, is money.

"The number one deal we have to be concerned about is paying that 1.7 million dollar note, that we now have on that new jail. And we're going to pay that first. Or no longer own a jail," says Grimmer. "20 inmates taken out of our jail and sent to Catahoula, which is at a tune of $700 a day," Grimmer says.

In October, 29 maximum security inmates were sent to Catahoula for holding. Eight have come back so far.

"We just had a situation. We made a lot of felony arrests within a short period of time. Pumped our numbers up and that's why we had to move them out," says Sheriff Willie Graves.

Livingston's max facility has 139 beds. As of Thursday, only six are available. 14 inmates are waiting for placement.

"Add 200 to 300 beds, that's going to take care of us for awhile," says Graves.

Grimmer says 98% of the Livingston Parish prisoners are waiting on trial. At one point, judges were reducing bonds, and granting early release to some inmates to free up space. Graves says they may have to do that again, to keep from sending more inmates to be housed in other parishes.

Graves says the money he gets from housing state inmates goes to pay for extra staff. The sheriff's office and parish are talking about starting a work-release program or monitoring inmates from home to free up bed space.

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