Economics force close o Simmesport women's prison

Avoyelles Detention Center #4 -- the women’s prison in Simmesport -- will be closed by the end of the month, Avoyelles Sheriff Doug Anderson said.
He said 130 of the 170 female inmates will be transferred to Detention Center #3 in Cottonport. The other 40, all state Department of Corrections inmates, will be sent to other facilities around the state.
Anderson said closing the prison will save the Sheriff’s Office about $1 million a year in salaries, utilities, maintenance and other operating costs.
The sheriff said 17 of the prison’s 40 employees will transfer to Cottonport and another 16 or 17 will be laid off and put on a “preferred hire list” -- meaning they will be offered any position in the department that comes open. The remainder will be retiring, he said.
A decline in the number of female inmates is cited as the reason for the decision.
Anderson said the Simmesport prison is supposed to have about 250 inmates. It has parish and state prisoners. With the inmate transfers, Cottonport will have 350 inmates, which Anderson said will place it at capacity.
Anderson said there has been a significant decline in the number of female inmates being sent to Avoyelles from the DOC. In addition, with the closure of Huey P. Long Hospital in Pineville, inmates requiring medical care must be transported further, incurring greater costs to the department.
Anderson said the state paid the parish $18 a day to hold a DOC prisoner in the 1970’s.
“Today, that cost has only risen to $24.39,” he continued, “That is not keeping up with the cost of living.”
The sheriff said he has been working for months trying to keep the facility opened, but the economics just wouldn’t allow it to happen. The final decision to close the facility was made in mid-October.
The Simmesport prison site is owned by the Avoyelles School Board. It has been leased to the Sheriff’s Office since the early 1990’s on an intergovernmental agreement in which APSO is allowed to use the facility in exchange for maintaining it.
Steve Marcotte, district maintenance supervisor, said there are no current plans for the Simmesport property. Once the Sheriff’s Office moves out, the building will be inspected to determine its condition and the board will then determine what should be done with the property.
When the Simmesport prison closes, APSO will have three detention centers -- the main jail in Marksville and the satellite facilities in former schools near Bunkie and in Cottonport. The three prisons will house about 1,100 parish and state inmates.
“These savings will be a huge uplift for our department’s budget,” Anderson said. “This is the people’s money and I feel this is good financial management.”