Will City Jail Ever Open?
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
It’s part of his job, says Opelousas City Marshal Paul Mouton, to distribute outstanding bench warrants and court subpoenas, but what happens after that?
Normally, Mouton told the Opelousas Noon Rotary Club last week, many of the bench warrants issued by his deputies throughout the city and Ward One, would land a suspect in jail until there is a bond hearing, plea deal, jury trial or sentence disposition.
However there’s only one problem, Mouton points out.
Despite being totally refurbished and operable, the city jail has been closed for the last six years and there’s apparently little hope of having inmates placed there in cells anytime soon, Mouton told the Rotarians.
Mouton said the city and area outside would be safer if the city jail was accepting inmates.
Right now that plan might be wishful thinking.
City Police Chief Graig LeBlanc says he welcomes a functioning city jail, but there’s only one problem.
It costs money to run a jail, LeBlanc points out and there is no revenue stream currently available to address the issues that occur due to incarceration.
“I would love to have the jail open. It can be open for anyone who wants to fund it. I would have to hire eight additional people to run a jail. Right now (a jail) is not a priority,” LeBlanc said during a telephone interview.
Mouton, who supported LeBlanc during the 2022 city police election, says there is a critical need for the jail to be functional.
“We’ve got to have a jail. Someone can be arrested, go through the lineup and we can’t put them in jail. There’s no place to put them and (the arrestees) know that,” Mouton said.
Mouton said State Representative Dustin Miller obtained enough grant money to rehabilitate the city jail that judges had ordered previously closed due to the austere conditions of the facility.
Money was spent to fix the plumbing, security and make the jail habitable for male and female inmates, yet the jail never opened due to financial constraints.
The media was taken on a promotional tour of the remodeled jail. Yet the cells remain empty.
LeBlanc said in the interview that if there is enough revenue provided directly to the police department from court costs, arrests or filing fees, then he could consider providing the personnel necessary to operate a jail.
At this point, LeBlanc said, he needs what officers that he has employed to patrol the streets and investigate suspected criminal activity.
Meanwhile, Mouton said that the Opelousas area remains what he considers dangerous territory, with active drug operations and youthful violence presenting the major problem for local law enforcement.
“Dope is really the biggest problem. You’re also seeing kids on the streets at midnight. They give their parents too much trouble and the parents want nothing to do with them.
“It’s not like it used to be here. Young women are having babies and these children are not being raised right. They have no respect for anyone,” said Mouton, who has been in law enforcement for 34 years.
Outside the city, Mouton said he has a good working relationship with the St. Landry Parish Sheriff Department.
Still, Mouton said the city and the area around it could be a lot safer.
Becoming a police officer is not a popular option for choosing a vocation, Mouton added.
“Everyone (in law enforcement) is shorthanded. We train them here and an officer will leave to go somewhere else to make more money.
“We (marshal’s office) are put into danger all the time, because we have to go into those houses to serve these warrants and you never know what might happen, because you might be taking them to a judge after making an arrest,” said Mouton.
