BATON ROUGE - The Jetson Center for Youth is set to house juveniles once again as early as April 2026.

At a legislative budget hearing, Jason Starnes, an undersecretary for the department, discussed plans with legislators as they move to reopen doors while building a new facility. 

The OJJ plans to move around 36 youths to a unit at a dorm at the current facility. The reopened facility will house low- to moderate-risk juveniles. The OJJ said they are working to improve security, with more fencing and security cameras. As well as some remodeling to be done at the dorms.

The department is also working on a long-term project to build a new facility at the location with 72 beds. They say the purpose is to help increase the state's capacity for youth who are taken into custody and serve as a center for intake and diagnosis. That facility is set to be finished in 2027-2028.

In 2014, juveniles were transported out of the facility after state leaders at the time determined that the facility wasn't fit for youth. Following the 2016 flood that damaged St. Gabriel's women's prison, inmates were temporarily housed at the facility after some renovations were made. They were recently brought back to the new St. Gabriel's Women' only prison earlier this year.

The Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children released the following statement:

"We continue to be deeply disturbed by Louisiana’s plan to reopen Jetson and spend $65 million on a new youth prison. Instead of moving toward the therapeutic, age-appropriate treatment models proven to work, the state is regressing. Louisiana should be investing in more counselors, educators, and therapists, not building more cages. The real solutions—community-based care, mental health services, quality education, and job opportunities—are not only more effective but far less costly. OJJ claims this new facility will be “modern,” but confining 36 low- to moderate-risk youth in a retrofitted building is not modernization—it is recycling failure. Louisiana is returning to punitive structures with smaller cells and high-security layouts that mimic adult incarceration. These environments do not rehabilitate youth; they traumatize them. This is a repeat of the same failed, harmful approach that led to Jetson’s closure in 2014 after decades of abuse and neglect.  We urge state leaders to stop repeating history and start working with the Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission and community organizations like FFLIC to create a system that truly cares for youth and families. The path forward is clear: invest in treatment and rehabilitation, not incarceration."