A federal judge ordered the DOC to improve conditions for workers forced to in Angola’s fields. The crews now have sunscreen and a 10×10 popup tent for shade.
Category: Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
Louisiana is giving second chances to bad policy. It should be extending those second chances to our neighbors.
Some of the most dangerous and costly new Louisiana laws went into effect today – and their effects are compounded by massive cuts in the social and support services that are proven to prevent crime. Students of Louisiana history know that this will not work.
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘Torturous’: Judge places solitary confinement and mental health care at David Wade prison under federal oversight
The north Louisiana prison was using solitary confinement as a “depository for the mentally ill,” judge had ruled.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Fifth Circuit appeals court sides with Angola’s Farm Line workers
Though the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals differed with some of the district court’s July 2 decision, the higher court agreed that Angola Farm Line workers deserve water, rest, and equipment to protect from heat
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge orders Angola to provide Farm Line workers access to shade, rest, sunscreen, and water
DOC must submit plan within a week to protect incarcerated persons laboring on the Farm Line, who otherwise face “immediate threats” including death and permanent injury
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘It isn’t very clear who is responsible for the jail getting to that cap’
The Orleans Justice Center has surpassed the city’s jail population cap, sparking questions about how to increase releases while reducing bookings — and what the rising jail population means for the health of those incarcerated and for the city of New Orleans.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Angola prisoners ask to end field work in worst heat
For decades, Angola has forced prisoners to work in fields in extreme heat. Today, they’re urging a federal judge to halt the practice — prisoners have filed a motion as part of a proposed class-action lawsuit to end the practice of forced agricultural labor at the prison
Posted inCriminal Justice
Federal judge: ‘I don’t think robbers would ask for help’
On Tuesday, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, lawyers from the ACLU of Louisiana and Cooley LLP argued in front of a three-judge panel on behalf of Bilal Hankins, a Black teenager stopped at gunpoint moments after he and his friends had approached officers for help in finding a lost dog. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘Show us the video’
It’s been almost a year since Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies shot and killed 18-year-old Calvin “Trey” Cains III in the parking lot of his mom’s Metairie apartment complex Yet his mother, Mallory Woodfork, and his father, Calvin Cains Jr., are still searching for answers about their son’s final moments — and demanding accountability from […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Louisiana paying D.C. attorneys $1,000 an hour to defend against probe into state police
Last year, the firm began raking in big money for legal services related to a DOJ investigation into patterns of misconduct by the Louisiana State Police.