At the end of March, Governor John Bel Edwards abruptly announced that the director of the Office of Juvenile Justice leader had resigned, effective immediately. He was replaced on a temporary basis by Edward “Dusty” Bickham, an attorney whose 17-year tenure at the state Department of Corrections included time as deputy warden at the Dixon Correctional Institute.

At the time, FFLIC publicly responded to the transition: “That was shocking,” said Executive Director Gina Womack. “It’s even more scary that during this time there would be such a huge transition.” 

Now, the Senate & Governmental Affairs Committee is planning to confirm Edward Dusty Bickham as the Deputy Secretary for the Office of Juvenile Justice.  But we are questioning whether Mr. Bickham — someone with a background in adult corrections — has the skills needed to rehabilitate youth. We believe he lacks the experience necessary to fulfill the vision of families and the late former Chief Justice Pascal Calogero, Jr.t o address “the need to re-envision, restructure, and reform the juvenile justice system of this state.”

We need to take action to DELAY THE VOTE!!!

Please copy and paste the email addresses and script to the Chair of the Committee asking for a delay:

Chairwoman Sharon Hewitt:  hewitts@legis.la.gov
CC: sen38@legis.la.gov , allainb@legis.la.gov, foilf@legis.la.gov, harrisj@legis.la.gov, pricee@legis.la.gov, sen30@legis.la.gov, tarverg@legis.la.gov, sen32@legis.la.gov