BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice is pleading with the state's judges to allow some young inmates out of jail, saying the agency does not have enough beds to sustain any more teen offenders.

The letter penned last week by William Sommers, the head of OJJ, says long stays for some of those inmates and a riot that "completely destroyed" a dorm at one facility in Monroe has pushed the agency to its limit when it comes to housing those troubled juveniles. 

OJJ says it plans to start filing motions requesting releases for some inmates whom the agency believes can be "safely reintegrated" back into the community. 

"We are asking your consideration to grant these motions as there is no other way to remove youth from the local detention centers pending placement unless we first safely release those youth who qualify for community based rehabilitation services," the letter read. 

The head of the agency added that OJJ should be able to better meet current needs once the state repairs the destroyed 36-bed dormitory at Swanson Monroe and opens its new 72-bed unit at that same facility. 

WBRZ has reached out to OJJ for more information on the request.

The plea comes as Louisiana has struggled for more than a year to safely operate its juvenile detention centers. The problem had gotten so bad that the state announced earlier this year a plan to temporarily move some teens from one facility plagued by riots and frequent breakouts to a newly constructed juvenile-only wing at the Angola state prison, a controversial decision met with pushback from some activist groups.

As of November, no juvenile offenders have been moved to Angola.