This is the first in a series of posts we will share on Louisiana’s history of chemical agent use against children who are detained or incarcerated. In this series, we take and support three positions: 1) the definition of “chemical agent” in the Louisiana OJJ licensing standards for juvenile detention centers is so broad that it creates real dangers for children; 2) if their use is allowed, then Louisiana must properly control the use of chemical agents against children; and 3) the well-being of Louisiana’s children would improve if our state provided therapeutic detention and rejoined the large majority of states by restoring the state’s 17-year ban against using chemical agents on children.
Before we explain these three positions in future posts, we will begin by sharing Louisiana’s history regarding the use of chemical agents. First, however, a note on storm warnings.
We in Louisiana understand warnings. With the beginning of each hurricane season, we turn our thoughts to the Gulf and what it might hold in the coming months. Remembering the chaos of our past evacuations and losses, some of us turn to GetAGamePlan.com to refresh our minds with essential information. We do this because we are Louisianans and have first-hand knowledge of the danger and costs of hurricanes. All of us have learned hard lessons in the past, so we do our best to protect ourselves today.
A similar dynamic is at play in Louisiana’s history of using chemical agents on children. Like our history with hurricanes, we have one of the nation’s darkest, documented histories of using chemical agents on detained and incarcerated children. Louisiana learned such hard, expensive lessons in the past. Today, it would be wise for us to remember those lessons to protect our children.
Like the thickening, humid air before a dangerous storm, recent testimony reaching the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children is a sign that an old storm is circling back and approaching again. We must prepare now to protect our children.
A Very Brief History of Chemical Agents
Chemical agents have been used in warfare since at least 2300 BC when the Chinese and Japanese developed stink pots that were lit and thrown at enemies. Emperor Constantine used Greek Fire against the Saracens in 673 AD, and in 1864, Greek Fire was lobbed into Charleston, S.C., during the Civil War. WWI and WWII saw organized chemistry come into play with the creation of deadly and caustic gases. From the 1920s through the 1960s, chemical agents like mace, tear gas, and other irritants became available to militaries, law enforcement, and correctional agencies. Delivery mechanisms became more efficient, and in 1982, oleoresin capsicum (OC, aka “pepper spray”) was introduced in its current easy-to-use aerosol form at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference and Exposition in Atlanta, GA.1
Before we consider specific dates in Louisiana’s timeline of using chemical agents on detained and incarcerated children, it would be helpful to understand the big picture of Louisiana’s history with chemical agents and children. Louisiana’s history is easily divided into three distinct eras.
Louisiana’s History of Chemical Agent Use on Children in Three Eras
Era 1: Until 2007
In the first era, which lasted until 2007, chemical agents were generally used without restriction against children in OJJ custody, in state and contracted OJJ facilities. Their use was so indiscriminate and abusive that it drew the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, which had repeatedly warned Louisiana and its contractors about protecting the safety of children in OJJ custody.
Louisiana’s refusal to act in the interest of children led to intense federal intervention and oversight, which ended Louisiana’s first chemical agent era in 2007.
Era 2: 2007 to 2024
In response to the costly consequences of the first era, the use of chemical agents against children in juvenile detention centers was banned for 17 years until 2024. Unfortunately, toward the end of the second era, some of Louisiana’s facilities began ignoring the ban and operated outside of regulations.
In the first era, the harmful use of chemical agents against children was one of Louisiana’s most costly juvenile justice mistakes, leading to the closure of expensive facilities and putting Louisiana’s juvenile justice system under federal oversight. Following the hard lessons of that era, Louisiana joined the majority of states and prohibited the use of chemical agents.
Era 3: 2024 through today
The third era began recently in July 2024 when OJJ, with an Emergency Rule, lifted Louisiana’s ban against using chemical agents on children. Despite the state and federally documented harms, costly lessons, and penalties of the first era, on July 24, 2024, Louisiana’s Office of Juvenile Justice initiated the current third era in which chemical agents are again permitted for use against children. Of note, the new authorization allows its use against both incarcerated children and those who are pre-adjudicated (innocent and not proven guilty).
In launching the third era, OJJ’s July 2024 Emergency Rule spun Louisiana around and our state now runs against the national trend. Roughly 37 states ban chemical agents in juvenile facilities, and for two decades, the national movement has accelerated toward elimination. (The Emergency Rule was published as a Final Rule in the Louisiana Register2 on April 20, 2025.) In lifting Louisiana’s ban against using chemical agents in juvenile detention centers, OJJ set Louisiana at odds with documented national best practices and our own history.
The next article in this series will provide the history of Louisiana’s first era of chemical agent use against children. Their use was so indiscriminate and egregious that Louisiana drew the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, which had repeatedly warned Louisiana and its contractors about protecting the safety of children in OJJ custody.
Rick Wheat
Director, Center for Child Well-being
References
1 Faulkner, J. R. (n.d.). Chemical Agent Instructor’s Manual. National Institute of Corrections. Retrieved June 6, 2026, from https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/146592NCJRS.pdf
2 Louisiana Register. Vol. 51, No. 4, Title 67, Part V, Subpart 8, Chapter 75, Section 7505. Page 540. April 20, 2025. https://www.doa.la.gov/media/aqifjzos/2504.pdf