LEONARD GRAY

PHOTO: Sheriff Greg Champagne, left, District Judge Robert Chaisson, center, and Parish President Albert Laque, review progress at the Nelson Coleman Correctional Center during a recent walk-through at the complex. The center was dedicated Friday, but inmates are not expected to be transferred there for another month. (Staff Photo by Leonard Gray) HAHNVILLE – When the dedication for St. Charles Parish’s new Nelson Coleman Correctional Center was held this week, not one inmate was housed there. In fact, no inmates are expected there for another month. That is because the facility is in the final phase of construction, with only a few touches remaining before the correctional officers begin training on the host of electronic security equipment, in readiness for admission of inmates. The first inmates are expected to be transferred from the present facility in Hahnville by mid-July, according to warden Roland Ladreyt. A special tour was held Wednesday for media representatives and several public officials, including Parish President Albert Laque, Clerk of Court Charles Oubre, 29th Judicial District Judge Robert Chaisson and school board physical plant services director Larry Sesser. The tour was conducted by Sheriff Greg C. Champagne and Ladreyt, the latter of whom has a quarter-century of law enforcement experience, mostly in corrections. Ladreyt has worked for the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office for the past 18 years, mostly running the present jail on the third floor of the courthouse, though he has worked in other areas including narcotics. One of the first features of this new 590-bed facility which the public will notice is the video visitation system, a close-circuit TV system between a visiting area including 27 stations and the cellblocks, where the inmates will remain. This was done, according to Ladreyt, to eliminate the possibility of contraband being introduced into the facility, especially drugs. Attorneys will be allowed face-to-face interviews with their clients in another area of the center, but only through a glass window. The new correctional center includes separate maximum-, medium- and minimum-security sections and a separate section for female inmates. For the males, minimum security includes four units of 52 inmates each. Medium security includes eight units of 26 inmates each. Maximum security includes four units of 30 inmates each. For the female population, minimum security includes one unit each for minimum, medium and maximum security, for a total of 82 inmates. The facility is named for the late Nelson Coleman, the third officer in the department’s history to die in the line of duty. The 13-year veteran died on Nov. 5, 1982, at the age of 70, after suffering a heart attack. The new correctional center (officials are careful not to call it a “jail”), located on a 63.24-acre site on La. Highway 3127, is loaded with security controls, including video cameras in virtually every section. Each cellblock is controlled by a central “tower” and the central control room can override each tower’s controls. As an arrestee arrives at the front gate, security gates surround the deputy’s vehicle. The arresting officer then takes the person to the admittance area and almost immediately turns him over to the correctional officers. After initial processing, the arrestee is held in one of the 19 holding cells. Particularly violent inmates are held in a padded cell “until they decide to calm down,” Ladreyt explained. The entire booking process is under video surveillance. After booking, the arrestee’s belongings are stored and an inmate uniform issued. When appropriate, arraignment on charges will be held in a video “studio” on a direct hookup with the court. Ladreyt said one of the discoveries he made during research on design for the facility is that most have inadequate records and storage facilities. “You don’t design a place to be outdated in two or three years,” he added, and said this facility is designed to be useful for 25-30 years. It is designed in a pod-format, where additional cellblock pods can be added on as necessary. In case of emergency, each unit can be evacuated in isolation from the others, into segregated exercise yards which include basketball courts. Also in each exercise yard is a plot of grass. “Sometimes, they just want to feel grass,” Ladreyt said. Design for the correctional center came after much analysis of other facilities from Colorado to Florida, and especially the Terrebonne Parish facility which also uses a central control “tower” surrounded by cellblocks. Every cell is visible from the central core tower in each unit. The center was designed by Gassen, Gassaway and Holloway Architects of Thibodaux. Construction contractor was Royal Anderson Construction of Gulfport, Miss. Other features include a law library, a kitchen capable of preparing 1,200 meals at once, and a cable-TV system designed for inmates, which included an abundance of religious programming and sports. The medical unit at the complex includes psychiatric service, aquatherapy, isolation areas, pharmacy, dental and X-ray facilities. Another feature of the facility is that it is a no-smoking facility for staff and inmates. “We’ve been weaning the current inmates off cigarettes,” Ladreyt said. Site preparation began work in mid-September 1999, clearing a sugar cane field, installing water lines and doing test boring of the soil to determine how much pile-driving was necessary. Construction of the new correctional center began in January 2000 on the 30-acre site. Other plans for the acreage, besides future expansion, include a firing range, training facility and relocation of the detective division. A total of 80 new employees are being trained, in classes of 40 at once, according to Ladreyt. Inmates themselves won’t arrive all at once, Ladreyt continued, but over several weeks as the staff adjusts to the inmate population and the facility itself. Meanwhile, the present 119-inmate facility on the third floor of the St. Charles Parish Courthouse in Hahnville will likely be used to house trustys with courthouse-area duties as well as a holding area during court appearances. The correctional center’s construction is being financed by $12.5 million in 20-year bonds, approved on March 25, 1999, for the St. Charles Parish Law Enforcement District, the debt to be repaid by anticipated housing fees for holding prisoners for the state Department of Corrections. The state currently pays a parish facility $22.63 per inmate per day to handle a state inmate, though Ladreyt said that amount is due to increase, pending a decision in the current legislative session. The remainder of the estimated $15.5 million cost was met by the parish government’s capital outlay funds. The facility, once everything is up and running, will likely save St. Charles Parish money, putting out less on medical services and paying other jails to house parish inmates. For example, St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Wayne L. Jones is now paid some $20,000 per month to handle St. Charles Parish inmates at his facility, according to Laque.