The city Wednesday morning made available for public viewing posted wide-ranging bids from seven companies vying to be selected as police monitor under terms of an impending federal consent decree with the New Orleans Police Department. Correction: The city made the bids available for public viewing, but they are not posted online. The monitor will be […]
Category: Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, Investigations
City wary of opening its coffers, leaving jail reforms at an impasse
The city’s reluctance to provide Sheriff Marlin Gusman with a financial bailout continues to stymie movement toward reforming Orleans Parish Prison under terms of a federal consent decree — despite fresh reports of violence and unconstitutional conditions at Gusman’s sprawling jail complex. At the heart of the impasse: The Landrieu administration refuses to give Gusman […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Judge makes city a defendant with sheriff in federal lawsuit
A federal judge made the city of New Orleans a defendant today in a lawsuit that seeks to force Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman to bring his jails into compliance with the U.S. Constitution. In court papers filed this morning in U.S. District Court, attorneys for Gusman said he was “making this claim against [the city] […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Sheriff asking to make the city a co-defendant in prison lawsuit
Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman is trying to spread anticipated financial pain at his jail complex to Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration. Gusman’s attorneys filed papers Friday with U.S. District Judge Lance Africk seeking to include the city as a third-party defendant in an ongoing lawsuit alleging that Gusman has been running an unconstitutional, unsafe jail […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Feds allowed to join lawsuit against OPP; agreement expected
An empty guard tower stands over part of Old Parish Prison, part of the prison-jail complex. Photo by Tom Gogola A federal judge today allowed the U.S. Department of Justice to join a lawsuit against Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman, a necessary step toward a likely consent decree that will govern reforms at the sheriff’s […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics, Investigations
City cancels plans for Super Bowl drone despite enthusiasm and interest from NOPD, others
A month after The Lens began asking questions about city officials’ plans to use a U.S. Homeland Security Department aerial drone to monitor Super Bowl crowds, a spokesman for Mayor Mitch Landrieu said today that the city is scrapping those plans. Spokesman Ryan Berni offered no reason for dropping the eye-in-the-sky technology, telling a reporter […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
No jail time for former deputy in Coast Guard officer's suicide
Family members of U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. William Goetzee pleaded Friday morning for a judge to put a former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s deputy in prison for enabling Goetzee to commit suicide while in jail. Instead, former jailer William Thompson got five years of probation and 200 hours of community service. Goetzee was arrested in August […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Former jailer to be sentenced for role in suicide at Orleans prison
A former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy will be sentenced in Criminal Court Friday for his role in the 2011 suicide of William “Bill” Goetzee in Orleans Parish Prison. William Thompson will appear in Chief Judge Camille Buras’ Criminal District courtroom for sentencing on a felony charge of malfeasance in office. Thompson pleaded “guilty as […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Is mayor's office dragging its feet over jailhouse consent decree?
As Hurricane Isaac was making its way across the Gulf of Mexico two weeks ago, Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman was meeting in New Orleans with officials from the U.S. Department of Justice to work on a long anticipated consent decree to remedy unconstitutional conditions at the city jail complex. But Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Nearly half of OPP inmates are shipped out or released
As Tropical Storm Isaac churns up the Gulf of Mexico, Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman said today that he shipped nearly half the prisoners held at Orleans Parish Prison to state facilities around Louisiana. In a statement, Gusman said he had moved 1,037 prisoners overnight from FEMA-built jails built in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. […]