Bridge City Center Urgent Newsletter

Greetings friends and supporters,

New Orleans for Community Oversight of the Police is holding a rally in solidarity with the youth incarcerated and resisting at Bridge City Center for Youth! Bring ways to make noise, your friends, your voice!! The rally will be at 1 pm on Saturday, June 18. It will be on the levee across the street from the detention center, located at 3225 River Rd. The flyers are included below, for your viewing and sharing:

Last night, 20 youth at Bridge City Center for Youth took over the facility and managed to hold it for over two hours. The same day, five youths managed to escape the horrible conditions at the facility. The prison and the police responded by bringing in the SWAT team and K9s.

Bridge City Center for Youth has a track record of being a brutal, corrupt, and inhumane place. Youth have been trapped in this facility throughout the duration of COVID-19, unable to see family or keep themselves safe--completely subject to lackluster prison sanitation policies. The staff develop inappropriate relationships with the YOUTH and KIDS incarcerated here, smuggle in contraband, have improper training. Prison administration have continued to be unresponsive to inmate, staff, and community demands for alternatives to brutal incarceration.

The media and the police are calling for the same backwards, conservative solutions: more money for the police, more staff, and more militarization. This is not what we or the incarcerated youth need! These solutions sow more violence, create more opportunities for police brutality, and subject the youth to more political repression!

We demand that the prison staff and JPSO do NOT retaliate against the youth incarcerated at Bridge City Center! We uplift the youth's needs for better treatment and conditions at this facility! We say: POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!

We hope to see you there tomorrow! Thank you for staying in the loop with us and our work. We hope you are finding rest in these difficult times.

Yours in Struggle,

New Orleans for Community Oversight of the Police