Does The Parish Need A New Jail?
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Each of the top three elected officials in St. Landry Parish agrees on one thing: St. Landry Parish needs a new parish jail.
Ask Sheriff Bobby Guidroz, District Attorney Chad Pitre and Parish President Jessie Bellard and each will tell you the same thing.
The current parish jail facility in Opelousas, completed in 1979, has obviously become too small, extremely overcrowded and that it’s perhaps time to begin a serious discussion of how to rectify the issue, Bellard, Guidroz and Pitre say.
Parish prisoners are being outsourced to incarceration facilities in other parishes at costs that Bellard has said are annually straining the parish operational budget.
When, where and how much it will cost to construct a new jail have yet to be determined, but Pitre, Guidroz and Bellard concur that a conversation on the issue needs to start.
St. Landry Now.com interviewed Guidroz, Pitre and Bellard separately this week and each also concedes that criminality in the parish is outgrowing the 244-bed capacity of the parish jail.
What’s The Cost?
Projected cost is the issue involved for building a new jail.
Bellard estimates that based on a 2023 architectural assessment that it could cost as much as $30 million at this point to build a new facility.
Pitre has no argument about the accuracy of that estimate, but he said that any fear of proposed expenditures should not override the need for building a new jail that could accommodate at least twice as many inmates.
“It’s as clear as day and time to sound the alarm. Public safety should be the first and foremost concern for our elected officials in this parish. It should be prioritized before roads, drainage, bridges, parks or whatever.
“We are getting more criminals and we have outgrown the jail. We need more space. We should not use the excuse that we cannot afford a new jail,” Pitre said.
Parish voters recently renewed a 1-mill parish wide jail maintenance tax, which Guidroz estimates provides about $800,000 annually for jail upkeep.
While Guidroz and his deputies are in charge of the parish jail, it’s the responsibility of the parish to fund the operation of the facility as well as feed and provide medical care for the inmates.
Bellard said he can obtain grants obtained through federal and state sources to provide the necessary funding for a new jail.
“The problem I have with it (a new jail) is I don’t have enough money to feed more prisoners if a new jail is built,” Bellard added.
Pitre said the parish shouldn’t have to depend totally on grant money in order to fund a new jail.
“I think if it is handled right, the parish could put a new jail and an additional millage on the ballot,” Pitre said.
Guidroz, who is being sued by the parish over the costs of feeding inmates, said that it’s the state-mandated job of the parish to provide the sheriff with a suitable jail.
“The parish right now has been spending a lot of money on a bunch of other things, but for the future are we going to need a new jail? Absolutely,” Guidroz added.
“Right now is the time to start planning (for a new jail),” Guidroz said.
How Large A Facility?
Guidroz is unsure about the size of any projected new jail facility.
The parish has overseen the construction of a new trustee dormitory for inmates whose sentences are awaiting completion. Both Bellard and Guidroz admit that when it opens to accommodate 60 prisoners, the trustee dormitory will help relieve the issues at the current jail.
Guidroz expects a 600-bed jail would be a suitable size, based on the current intake rate at the parish jail.
“The 244 beds we now have is not getting it done. When the jail was built, it was a single bed facility and now it’s double bunked and we still don’t have the space we need,” said Guidroz.
Location Suitability
Where to build a new jail is an issue that Bellard and Guidroz feel will need to be discussed.
Although the parish owns property at the parish airport, Bellard said he is not in favor of locating a new jail facility at that location.
“You are going to have to put (the jail) in an area where there are not many residents around. I haven’t been looking at places to put a jail, but I don’t think that the airport is a good location,” Bellard said.
Guidroz said it was difficult about 10 years ago as parish officials were trying to find a place to locate a juvenile facility that was eventually constructed in Avoyelles Parish.
“We had the funding and all we needed was finding a place to locate that facility. We went all over the parish, had meetings, looked at properties and no one wanted it in their neighborhood, so it went elsewhere,” said Guidroz.
