The administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal
proved once again last week how heartless it can be. The late-Friday
afternoon announcement
that the C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center in DeQuincy would be
closed by November was a kick in the gut to the 269 employees
who work there, their families and the citizens of DeQuincy and
Southwest Louisiana.
Typical of the Jindal administration, it let someone else take the heat for its decision that caught virtually everyone in
this corner of the state by surprise. And Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc made it sound like it is no big deal.
“We’ll gradually move over the next couple of months and hopefully by November we’ll have it empty,” LeBlanc said. “We’re
prepared to move as quickly as we need to move.”
What’s the rush? Can’t they give those
stunned employees at least the rest of this fiscal year to make plans
for their futures?
Shutting Phelps down before June 30 next year is only going to
save the state $2.6 million. That’s peanuts for an administration
that spends untold millions to bring new industries to Louisiana.
Phelps is an industry in DeQuincy, one of only two major ones in that area. Isn’t it just as important to save an industry
as it is to bring new ones in? In fact, the state hasn’t done much for DeQuincy in a long time.
Kenny Naquin, a 26-year employee, said, “Anybody that wants to go to work, they go to work out at Phelps. There’s Temple-Inland
and there’s Phelps.”
Robert Henderson, the warden at Phelps,
said nearly 100 workers will be transferred to other state correctional
centers. However,
how many of those will be able to pull up stakes and move
elsewhere when they have homes and other obligations in the DeQuincy
area? Even LeBlanc admitted he doesn’t know if Phelps employees
will want to transfer to other facilities.
Pity the poor inmates housed in the
942-bed facility. Most of them will have to serve the rest of their time
at the state
penitentiary at Angola. The state said it will keep them away from
offenders serving life sentences, but Angola is probably
the last place they should be housed. And they are going to lose
out on training programs designed to help them make it on
the outside.
The closure of Phelps proves once again
that state legislators don’t really count for much in the eyes of the
Jindal administration.
Most lawmakers in this area were caught unaware of the sudden
shutdown of the center. And there really isn’t much they can
do about it anyway. They only get to approve the privatization of
prisons, not their closings.
Speaker of the House Chuck Kleckley,
R-Lake Charles, should have some voice in decisions like this one that
affects his area,
but he’s as helpless as all the rest. About all he could do was
offer his condolences to the families affected by the closure.
Some of those are like the families of
Carol Lee Fruge, Carrie Wilson and Kenny Naquin. Fruge is a 17-year
employee and is
Henderson’s secretary. Wilson is an 11-year employee, and Naquin
is a 26-year employee. Both Fruge and Wilson’s husbands are
employed at Phelps. Naquin’s wife, son and soon-to-be son-in-law
also work at the prison.
Those are great examples of why there is no other way to describe this closure other than devastating.
DeQuincy Mayor Lawrence Henagan was right on target when he said, “They’re not a bunch of dogs, they’re human beings.”
To say the future for Phelps employees is grim is putting it mildly. Most will probably be out of work for the foreseeable
future.
Fruge spoke for public officials, Phelps and the entire Southwest Louisiana community when she said, “That’s been the hardest
part of this; we were completely blind-sided.”
The administration always manages to
find convenient excuses for its cruel actions. Pam Laborde with the
Department of Corrections
said Phelps was old and inefficient and this is a good deal for
Louisiana taxpayers. Maybe so, but taxpayers might view this
differently. The odds are they, unlike the Jindal administration,
can understand how unsettling this decision can be and how
it’s going to affect the economic well-being of 269 employees and
their families.
Unfortunately, the situation at Phelps
isn’t unique where this administration is concerned. Talk to the
citizens of Southeast
Louisiana where they are trying to save a mental hospital and they
will tell you they understand the pain being felt in the
DeQuincy area. A psychiatrist at Southeast Louisiana Hospital
calls its closure “shocking.”
Legislators in that area are just as ineffective as those in Southwest Louisiana when it comes to stopping hurtful decisions
by the Jindal administration.
Efficiency in state government is
desirable and should be a continuing goal of those who make decisions
like the two discussed
here. However, shouldn’t there also be some compassion and concern
in this latest closure for the well-being of prison workers
and the future of DeQuincy area citizens?
The Jindal administration can’t make the argument that there aren’t better places to save those millions of dollars than in
areas that have state facilities that are a major lifeblood of a community. This Phelps decision is about as uncaring and
unnecessary as they get.
Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than five decades. Contact him at 494-4025 or jbeam@americanpress.com