10.11.10 Story updated at end with mayor’s comment. Original post: Sheriff Marlin Gusman has threatened to cut court hours and pull security services from the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court unless the city pays him an extra $500,000 by Oct. 25. Gusman took his stand in letter Wednesday to Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Without it, he […]
Category: Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
Committee to reconsider downgrading some crimes
The City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee today delayed a vote on downgrading certain misdemeanors to municipal court offenses because of concerns expressed by District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro. The group also discussed several other initiatives aimed at reducing the amount of jail and court time used for minor offenses. Addressing the City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Council to consider alternatives to jailing municipal defendants
The New Orleans City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee has provided public notice of its next meeting, apparently having re-read the state’s open-meetings law. The public was not invited to the last meeting of the group, where key jail issues were discussed. But this week, the meeting and an agenda are posted clearly on the city’s […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
New Orleans courts unfair to poor defendants, reports say
New Orleans often spends more money to imprison people for unpaid fines than is ultimately recouped from the fines themselves, according to two reports released by criminal justice reform advocates today. The reports, published by the American Civil Liberties Union in New York and the Brennan Center for Justice, a project of the New York […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Sheriff headed to court without budget increase
Sheriff Marlin Gusman is threatening to take the city to court unless it pays him 28 percent more money than last year to house New Orleans inmates.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Land Use
Temporary jail cells costing more than $11 million to build
Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s temporary jail will cost over $11 million, The Lens has learned.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Land Use
Some support temporary jail; others want work stopped
Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s decision to move ahead with construction of 400 temporary jail beds before a working group meets to examine the jail expansion has divided the group and drawn criticism from City Council President Arnie Fielkow.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Land Use
Sheriff building 400 jail beds before working group meets
The sheriff has started work on buildings for 400 new temporary jail beds even before the city’s Criminal Justice Working Group – established last week by the mayor to examine the jail expansion – holds its first official meeting.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Sheriff: I have never housed arrestees ‘to make money’
Sheriff Marlin Gusman has hit back at remarks made Thursday by a member of the mayor’s new advisory group on plans for Gusman’s new jail. Former Chief Judge of Criminal District Court Calvin Johnson told The Lens yesterday that jails have been used as “an economic development tool in Louisiana over the last 30 years,” […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Mayor announces new group to offer recommendation on jail
Mayor Mitch Landrieu today announced the membership and goals of a new jail advisory group, which will deliver a recommendation to his office on the “optimal” size of a planned new jail complex. The mayor signed an executive order convening the group yesterday, and charged it with giving him a written recommendation and report by […]