Behind The Lens episode 277: ‘Hotter, hotter and hotter’

Bernard Smith on New Orleans' notorious House of Detention and protections for Angola's Farm Line workers in summer heat. Marta Jewson on a student's suspension pending a mental health eval — a flagarent violation of special education law.
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This week on Behind The Lens, in the ongoing legal battle over conditions on the Farm Line at Angola, a district judge has just extended protections through mid-August for the incarcerated men working in the extreme heat of the Louisiana summer. 

And the New Orleans House of Detention, or H.O.D. is slated for demolition. Vacant since 2012 the structure was deemed architecturally significant and eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. It has such a notorious legacy in the city’s criminal-justice system that its history should be carefully documented before it’s demolished according to criminal-justice advocates.

And late last year, Fannie C. Williams Charter School sent a student home and barred her from returning to class until the child was cleared by a doctor — a flagrant violation of federal special education law.

Our guests this week are Lens reporters Bernard Smith and Marta Jewson. 

Theme music by Podington Bear. Additional music Fragile Do Not Drop by Podington Bear soundofpicture.com. 

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Carolyne Heldman

Carolyne Heldman Rovira has been in media for 35 years, and is currently the podcast host and producer for Behind The Lens. Heldman served as executive director at Aspen Public Radio, an NPR affiliate, where she launched four weekly news, public affairs, and cultural affairs programs. She has been a guest lecturer at Tulane University, is a frequent guest and moderator for the Aspen Institute, Rocky Mountain Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute.