BATON ROUGE - Following several escapes last year, the East Baton Rouge City-Parish has been working on security upgrades to the juvenile detention facility.

"Since the most recent incidents, we've made some pretty significant upgrades to the facility. The one that you'll definitely notice the most is the new 16-foot, no-climb perimeter fence with razor wire on top of it. We're adding razor wire on top of the facility itself," said Mark Armstrong with the Mayor-President's office.

The new fence system seen here cost $1.3 million. At least one of the previous escapes involved a juvenile jumping the old fence.

"That new perimeter fence is pretty huge and it's going to go a long way for keeping the community safe."

On the inside, upgrades are still underway.

"Longer term for the current facility as well, we're going to be making additional updates inside. Camera systems, electronics, doors, things of that nature."

All of the upgrades ended up costing quite a bit more than planned.

Detailed in a supplemental agreement, the Metro Council originally allocated around $130,000 for design plans, but that cost has ballooned to over $840,000 — just for the design firm.

The new plans include a complete renovation of the entire campus and an addition to the administrative side where the public has access. In total, the upgrades are supposed to cost around $3.5 million.

There are no plans to expand the capacity of the facility, which is often full. The City-Parish has repeatedly said it needs a brand new, larger facility, but right now, there isn't money for it.