BATON ROUGE, La (BPROUD) – This month, a report was published breaking down the deaths inside Louisiana’s prisons, jails and detention centers.
Families who have lost loved ones inside the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison are demanding change from those in charge.
Linda Franks’ son, Lamar Alexander Johnson, died by suicide in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in 2015. He was only 27.
“He took the little children in the neighborhood and formed a football camp with them,” Franks said recalling what he was like when he was a child.
She said even as a kid he was a community role model.
“He took his trophies that he had” Franks said. “And he scratched his name off the trophies to make sure that each of the little boys would be able to get a trophy.”
That love for kids applied at home too. He took in his girlfriend’s two boys as his own and was celebrating the birth of his daughter.
“He loved his daughter he just doted on them, and he was an amazing father,” said Franks.
But eight years ago, Johnson ended up in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. The result of not paying a parking ticket, and cashing a bad check for a little more than $300. Franks swears Johnson was unaware the check, cashed years prior was even flagged for being fraudulent.
And before that, she said he rarely got in trouble and didn’t show signs of mental illness.
That’s why she was so surprised four days after being booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, she got a call that her son was barely alive after trying to hang himself.
“I’m so proud of the man, that he was,” said Franks. “We realized that the severity of his injuries to let him go in peace.”
Franks isn’t the only mother whose children spent their final days incarcerated in Louisiana.
Kimberly Williams’ son, Kaddarius Cage died by suicide in the EBR Parish Prison just this year.
“Kaddarius was a loving child, he loved art and just loved to sing and dance,” Williams said.
“In East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, twenty percent of the deaths from 2015 to 2021 were suicides,” said Loyola Dr. Norman C. Francis Distinguished Professor of Law Andrea Armstrong.
A new Loyola University report called “Louisiana Deaths Behind Bars” breaks down the numbers starting back in 2015.
“East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, which is a jail, operated by the sheriff really stood out in a number of respects,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong was the lead author of the report. She said it looks at all state prisons and jails. The number of deaths in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison are notable.
“We found that 35 people died within the jail 2015 to 2021 and we know that many of those deaths are due to unnatural causes including violence, drug overdoses, and a high rate of suicides,” said Armstrong.
That’s the highest number in the state, 15 more than number two, Jefferson Parish Correctional Center. The causes of death also stand out to Armstrong.
“In East Baton Rouge Parish Prison twenty percent of the deaths from 2015 to 2021 were suicides,” Armstrong said. “That stands in stark contrast with our state numbers were suicide during that entire period was 6.68 percent.”
Despite 80% of state inmate deaths being attributed to medical conditions, that number is significantly less at EBR Parish Prison.
“We know that many of those deaths are due to unnatural causes including violence, drug overdoses, and a high rate of suicides,” said Armstrong.
Armstrong said the EBR Parish Prison redacts much of this information compared to other facilities, but mental illness is clearly a big factor.
“So if a person needs to be put on suicide watch, they need constant supervision which is often performed by security staff who fills out a log,” Armstrong.
The sheriff’s office declined to do an interview, but sent a statement saying in part, “The protocol for handling a suspected mentally ill inmate is to notify medical staff as soon as possible in order to make a health evaluation. Additional steps are then determined by medical.”
“The sheriff’s office does have significant responsibility for the medical care that’s provided to people who are incarcerated because his staff must collaborate and coordinate with the medical staff,” Armstrong said.
The prison’s medical facility is the city parish’s responsibility, operated through a company called Turn Key Health. A spokesperson said the provider is doing a solid job with treatment, sending these numbers from a medical report showing how much medical care inmates received from April 2022 to 2023.
First Year Services – Facility Statistics:
- Initial health screenings – 9,280
- 14-day physical assessments – 4,699
- Patients seen for “sick call” requests – 5,343
- Patients seen by providers for chronic care (cardiac, diabetes, HIV, etc) – 3,666
- Patients seen by dental – 816
- Patients treated for newly diagnosed STDs/STIs – 34
- Patients treated for active COVID-19 – 176
- COVID vaccinations – 184
- Influenza vaccinations – 87
- ER transfers – 351
- Hospital admissions – 130
- Founded grievances – less than 1%
Despite this, Williams said she doesn’t trust how the facility operates.
“If they would have given his medication to him, he would have been sleeping,” Williams.
Williams said her son was schizophrenic, and she worries he wasn’t given proper medication despite her daily pleas.
“I kept explaining to them that my son needed his medication because of his condition and without that medication he wouldn’t be able to function,” said Williams. “Because of the carelessness of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison I will never see my son again.”
Williams and Franks said they both hope administrators learn from this study, so more mothers don’t have to go through this.
“I don’t stand for my son, I want to stand for someone else’s son that goes there,” Williams said.
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