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Author: Bernard Smith

Carnival is a wary time of year for thousands on supervision in New Orleans

February 16, 2026 Updated February 27, 2026
Curfews and court rules shape Carnival for thousands in New Orleans who are on probation or parole. Others find themselves self-isolating after the trauma of doing time.

Angola Farm Line trial testimony reveals traumas tied to field labor

February 6, 2026 Updated February 11, 2026
After hard work in the sun on the Farm Line, he’d fall asleep, only to be visited by nightmares, Chadarius Morehead testified on Thursday, in the ongoing federal trial that will determine the constitutionality of forced field labor at Angola.

Angola Farm Line lawsuit, now class action, proceeds to five-day trial

February 3, 2026 Updated February 7, 2026
The court will determine whether forced prison field labor is unconstitutional and in violation of federal disability law

Footprint of solitary confinement in Louisiana expands because of ICE use of isolation

January 20, 2026 Updated January 20, 2026
Recent declines had come because of human-rights activists like Kiana Calloway, who was kept in solitary on and off for nine years, to the point where his hearing and sight changed.

Ten years to justice

December 22, 2025 Updated December 22, 2025
How a $40 accusation and inadequate representation cost a man 10 years of his life — and how he made it to freedom, with the help of lawyers from Innocence & Justice Louisiana.

How cornbread dressing was banned from Angola prison’s Thanksgiving menu

November 26, 2025 Updated December 2, 2025

FCC postpones long-awaited rules reducing ‘outrageous’ prison and jail phone rates, leaves families paying more

October 1, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026
Expensive calls force families to choose between paying bills and staying connected to loved ones.

Judge extends an additional 90 days of protection for Angola Farm Line

September 10, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026
Order continues for the second consecutive summer. Once the heat index hits 88 degrees, the DOC must provide some relief to the men working for pennies an hour in the prison’s fields.

Reforms resulted from the thousands left to drown in OPP 

August 29, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026
The 2005 abandonment of incarcerated people within the flooded Orleans Parish jail complex became one of the catalysts to reform the city’s dysfunctional justice system 

Hell on Earth

July 29, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026
Men incarcerated within Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola want relief from the prison’s extreme heat and overcrowding.

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