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FERRIDAY, La. — Concordia Parish could receive $3 million for the renovation of a jail facility for 17-year-olds as part of $93.6 million the State of Louisiana is poised to spend on new and expanded youth facilities over the next five months.

While over $500 million worth of projects had been requested by Louisiana governments in applications submitted to the criminal justice funding commission, juvenile detention facilities across the state were given first priority.

This comes in the wake of a law Gov. Jeff Landry passed last year that automatically treats 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system, meaning more 17-year-olds would be sent to adult jails and prisons for violent and nonviolent crimes.

This has created logistical problems for sheriffs at their local jails as the federal government still prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from being housed with adults in the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Teens must also be provided with educational resources while incarcerated and sheriffs have complained that they don’t have the space or funding to accommodate them.

The Concordia Parish facility is one of four facilities in the state recommended for improvements. Louisiana’s Joint Legislative Committee is to meet Feb. 20 and must also sign off on the projects, which are being recommended by a legislative advisory commission led by Gov. Jeff Landry and staff.

Of these projects, $36.6 million is also recommended to build a new regional juvenile detention center in Lafourche Parish, $38 million for the expansion of a juvenile detention center in Rapides Parish and $16 million to continue work on a new state-run Jetson Center for Youth in East Baton Rouge Parish.

The sheriff of each parish is expected to oversee the construction.

“We not only house inmates but we educate them in a way that they will be better equipped when they return to society, which I believe is a more effective thing for our incarcerated individuals,” Concordia Parish Sheriff David Hedrick said.

He thanked Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, Gov. Landry and state senators Heather Cloud and Glen Womack and all officials involved for believing in Concordia Parish enough to fund the project.

Hedrick said the parish is making effective use of the existing Concordia Correctional Facility by making it into an 80-bed center to house 17-year-olds from the Department of Corrections. An inmate there could spend up to a year in the facility. Those with longer sentences would be moved to an adult facility when they are over the age of 18, he said.

These are all DOC inmates who have been sentenced, not pre-trial inmates, Hedrick said.

It serves multiple other parishes including youth from East Baton Rouge, Lafayette, LaSalle, Livingston, Madison, Tensas, West Carroll, West Feliciana, Winn and possibly others, according to the project application.

If the parish does have to pay at all for the project, it would be “very little,” Hedrick said, adding $3 million should be efficient funds to complete it. Hedrick said the revitalization of Concordia Correctional also means he would have the ability to hire more personnel to man it, creating more job opportunities in Concordia Parish.

“We’re thinking within five months, we should be operating,” he said. “Having a pre-existing facility helped us in the process. There’s a great need throughout the state of Louisiana to house and meet the new standards for housing 17-year-old inmates. There’s quite a population, and this is the beginning of being able to meet those needs.

“I’m extremely proud of my staff and everything they do to provide the best service for our parish. They make me more proud every day to be the sheriff of Concordia Parish.”

Taylor Barras, Landry’s commissioner of administration and budget architect, told reporters that Gov. Landry would continue to push lawmakers later this year to put more money into youth prisons and parish jail expansion.

“There is still the need for beds across the state,” Barras said.