Bridge City Center for Youth security officers attacked, face violence daily
Bridge City LA May 24 2017
“I know he’s not a saint because if he was, he wouldn’t be where he was in the first place, but that doesn’t give the facility a right to abuse him,” says Goldie Gibson.
Goldie Gibson’s son, Trevon Gibson, was one of several offenders removed from the Bridge City Center for Youth in handcuffs last week. Last Friday, FOX 8 got exclusive video of the offenders being transferred.
A source told FOX 8, that the six offenders over the age of 16 were taken to the Jefferson Parish jail and booked with battery on a police officer. The move came after what the source, described as an ambush on the security guards.
According to the source, Wednesday around 10 p.m., two offenders attacked a security guard who then called for assistance when more offenders joined the attack. At the same time, our source says the offenders broke through the security doors and entered the yard outside where the fight continued for about 45 minutes.
Gibson says Trevon told her a different story.
“Well, he was attacked that night, and later around 1 something he called me and said he attacked one of the staff involved in jumping him in his office,” says Gibson.
She admits her son did attack a staff member, but she says that happened after a staff member attacked her son.
“He said that when he was jumped he was lured outside the door to where there ain’t any cameras, so what they done to him is not going to be on any cameras,” Gibson.
“The story that I was told is that the staff jumped on the children,” says Shelita Franklin.
Shelita Franklin is the mother of 20-year-old Dan Green. She says her son was also booked with battery on a police officer and is now in the adult system.
“He’s claiming he didn’t know what was going on. He said the staff had jumped the boys, and he said, ‘I don’t know why I’m in here,’” says Franklin.
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Juvenile Justice Glenn Holt told FOX 8 that while the incident remains under investigation, it was a fight only among the offenders, and the guards were injured while trying to break it up.
Both mothers told FOX 8 that they worried for the safety of their sons on a daily basis while inside the facility.
“My son has been jumped over and over and over at the facility. He has been stabbed recently. Nothing was done to the kids,” says Franklin.
“I’ve seen the kids get broken jaws, concussions and all that,” says a guard or juvenile justice specialists.
FOX 8 spoke exclusively to one of the guards inside the Bridge City facility. While not there on the night of the fight, the guard told us there’s almost constant violence there.
“They make weapons. They use anything from pens, pencils and stuff they get from the school or something like that,” says the guard.
He says while violence is usually between the offenders. He has also witnessed the staff getting involved.
“I have seen the staff pick verbally with the youth. I have seen staff actually set up a fight. They tell a youth, ‘I want you to go get that youth because they did this to me,’” says the guard.
The guard says several staff members have already quit, fearing for their own safety.
The state’s Juvenile Justice office told FOX 8 that every incident reported to the state goes through an internal investigation. They say the mother’s claim that her son was attacked by a staff member is also being investigated.
FOX 8
