Acadiana Center's ‘Code Red’ phone alert system now operational

If there is an emergency or escape at Acadiana Center for Youth in the future, nearby residents and key entities in the parish will be immediately notified by telephone. Last week the Office of Juvenile Justice tested its “Code Red” emergency alert system for the Bunkie juvenile detention facility. The system passed the test.

“We made 1,200 calls,” OJJ Executive Management Advisor Beth Touchet-Morgan said. “Only about 2-3 percent answered the phone.”

The newspaper received its call in the afternoon that day. Many residents may not have been home when the call came in. Caller ID should tell the recipient of the call that it is from OJJ.

“We have a Code Red system at all of our facilities,” Touchet-Morgan said. “It calls all registered phone numbers within two miles of the center.”

The alert system is more complicated than in the past because there are fewer people with land lines and more with cell phones, she noted.

CAN CALL CELL PHONES

It is easier to include land lines that are attached to an address, but OJJ can build a call list from cell phone numbers provided to it, she said.

Law enforcement agencies are called directly and not by the automated system.

Morgan-Touchet said OJJ did not know the Code Red call system was not operating correctly until after two recent escapes -- one involving three juveniles in September and the other last month involving seven youths. The three initial escapees were caught within a few days. Six of the most recent escapees have been recaptured. One is still at large, Morgan-Touchet said.

Steps have been taken to make ACY more secure, she said.

“We have started meeting with community members to keep them informed about what we are doing,” Morgan-Touchet said.

That includes “making some modifications to the fence line and making some changes in staff levels and staff movements during the day to ensure the youth are appropriately monitored,” she said.

The 72-bed facility is about half full. The center is expected to be fully staffed and at full capacity in early 2020.