Prisoners participating in the action described a lack of mental health and medical care, being denied access to their families and attorneys and being exposed to extreme temperatures.
Cantrell administration hoped to delay work on the facility, which it opposes, pending an appeal of a January court order to move forward with it.
Angola prisoner Bobby Sneed sued the state parole board after it rescinded his release order, charging that the board and its director ignored procedure and law to retaliate against him for going public with his case.
The city has been ordered to move forward with construction of the facility, but that will require the City Council’s approval.
The City Council is poised to vote on a resolution signaling support for a retrofit of the current jail, rather than the controversial Phase III building.
PANO is asking the city’s Civil Service Commission to open an investigation into PIB.
A proposed law would give "prospective pardons" to anyone cited for marijuana possession under city law.
Two years after the legislature passed a law requiring DA’s offices to submit annual data on the use of material witness warrants, the reports only started coming in last week.
GEO Group, the private prison corporation that runs the facility, denied the allegations.