La. moves ahead with plan to close prisons

Facing budget constraints and a growing inmate population, state officials are moving ahead with a plan to shut down two prisons, including one with a well-established addictive treatment program.

The first to go was the Forcht-Wade Correctional Center in the Caddo Parish community of Keithville, which closed July 1. Later this month, the J. Levy Dabadie Correctional Center at Pineville in Rapides Parish will shut down. State lawmakers who opposed the closings complain that more than 100 jobs will be lost and the mental health program at Forcht-Wade will have to be moved to another parish.

State Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc said the closings are part of cost-cutting moves.

LeBlanc said most inmates at the prisons had little time remaining on their sentences so consolidation will save money.