The city and the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office are implementing short- and long-term plans for housing mentally ill inmates, but critics say jail is no place to treat mental illness.
The city gave the court $3.8 million in additional funding this year. Reform advocates argue that the money should be contingent on reform.
The request to increase the bed cap from 1,438 to 1,731 will now go to the New Orleans City Council.
There are currently 17 teenagers — ranging in age from 15 to 17 — being held in the juvenile wing of the adult Orleans Justice Center, even though there are 18 open beds at the juvenile facility.
New Orleans court does not currently offer confirmation testing, which may lead to punishment based on false positives
Council members appear supportive of the plan, proposed by the Vera Institute for Justice last month. But a prominent crime watchdog group and the Orleans DA have criticized jail population reduction efforts.
Active Solutions COO Jeff Burkhardt denied that he purchased or owned the cameras, calling a reporter’s questions “fake news.” Less than 24 hours after The Lens called him, the cameras were gone.
The agreement comes after a two-year civil rights lawsuit against Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell over how he was setting bail.
