ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- When St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard listed his goals for 2025, he made a priority of reducing the cost of inmate spending. While part of that has to do with housing inmates outside of the parish due to the parish jail being over capacity, There's another element, housing juvenile inmates.

"Juvenile crime and juvenile detention, juvenile period, is a serious issue," Bellard said.

When a juvenile commits a serious crime, they are required by a judge to be sent to a juvenile detention center. However, without such a center in the parish, Bellard says costs have continued to add up for parish government.

"The closest one is in Mississippi," Bellard said. "Next one is Alabama, and they cost roughly $300 to $325 a day to house them. And we get the bill for the transportation. So, all the cost is on parish government."

In 2025, Bellard hopes to change that process.

"We have a board set up at nine parishes that was put together by the state a couple of years ago," he said. "I'm the chairman of the Acadiana Juvenile Justice District board. And one of our main goals for this year is to find a location and build a juvenile detention center."

With a team effort between Acadiana Juvenile Justice Board and Governor Jeff Landry, Bellard said 2025 could see the new facility built while saving time and money for juvenile housing.

"So the thought process is to to build a facility within a nine-parish region and to house the juveniles locally where they don't have to go out of state to get them," he said. "Because when you arrest them, the judge ordered them to a facility. You got to bring them, then within 72 hours, you got to bring them back to see the judge. So that's a lot of a lot of extra work that has to be done. They'll have it closer."

Bellard said the goal is to find a suitable location and begin construction this year.

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