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.
Author Archives: Bernard Smith
Posted inKatrina20
Reforms resulted from the thousands left to drown in OPP
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
Posted inCriminal Justice
Hell on Earth
Men incarcerated within Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola want relief from the prison’s extreme heat and overcrowding.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Unlocking opportunity:
It’s a familiar scenario. Potential employers see criminal histories and don’t hire. In New Orleans, improvements to the city’s “Ban the Box” ordinance could better challenge employment barriers. An Oct. 11 ballot amendment could expand that protection to include housing
Posted inCriminal Justice
From jailhouse lawyer to clerk of court candidate
Calvin Duncan’s unfinished mission for justice moves to his political candidacy
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge extends safeguards for Angola’s Farm Line for 90 more days
Order requires that officials monitor temperatures every 30 minutes. If heat index hits 88, Farm Line workers get regular breaks, ice, water, and shade.
Posted inCriminal Justice
The towering legacy of the House of Detention
“This building’s architecture tells one story. But its human history tells another— and we need to confront both,” said Loyola Law School professor Andrea Armstrong
Posted inCriminal Justice
Only those who have experienced jail can understand the bigger picture
In New Orleans, where incarceration touches nearly every block, jail population counts are much more than numbers – they represent families fractured, futures derailed, and communities under pressure.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge’s order requires Farm Line ‘be treated with human decency’
For the second consecutive year, a federal judge tells the DOC to provide Farm Line workers with protections from the sweltering Louisiana heat.
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘It’s just not fair’
Nearly 1,000 Louisiana prisoners, including a Jefferson Parish man convicted by an 11-1 jury verdict, hope for relief in a non-unanimous jury bill that could hit the Senate floor on Wednesday.