It was once described as by the New York Times as the worst youth in prison. The Swanson Correctional Center for Youth was known more commonly as ‘Tallulah,’ for the small northeastern Louisiana town in which it was located.
A coalition of groups including Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC) and the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) helped lead campaign to close this notoriously abusive youth prison and usher in a series of reforms impacting the state’s entire juvenile justice system. FFLIC and JJPL helped pass the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2003 (Act 1225) which not only led to the closing of Tallulah but also included added periodic juvenile placement reviews to ensure that youth are kept in the least restrictive setting, and promoted the development of nationally recognized and accepted standards of practice for local juvenile detention facilities. One reform that did not ultimately pass was FFLIC and JJPL’s attempt to transform the closed youth prison into a satellite of one of Louisiana’s community colleges. For More Information.