Despite an apparent agreement last week to drastically reduce the size of the city’s jail complex, Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman on Monday bristled at any decision now that he be required to demolish jail cells in the future.
Despite having a Monday deadline, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s Criminal Justice Working Group may well extend its efforts, Chief Administrative Officer Andy Kopplin said today at the first of the two final scheduled meetings.
Amid a tempestuous atmosphere, residents at a public hearing raised serveral concerns about a proposed new jail facility for Sheriff Marlin Gusman.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s Criminal Justice Working Group on Tuesday held the first of two public hearings to get the public’s input on the size of a new jail.
Sheriff Marlin Gusman would be willing to move away from being paid a daily rate by the city per inmate, he told a City Council budget hearing this afternoon.
The New Orleans Police Department arrested 20,000 people needlessly on warrants last year at a cost to taxpayers of almost $2 million, said Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas at a City Council budget hearing this morning.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu may consider paying Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman a flat fee to keep city inmates in his jail, rather than the current daily-rate arrangement which a consultant said only encourages more incarceration.
Anticipating a draft report this afternoon on the appropriate size of a new city jail, a coalition of smaller-jail advocates have renewed the call for an 850-bed jail in line with national averages.
Sheriff Marlin Gusman said Tuesday that his 400 new temporary jail beds will add to the total number of inmates in his custody, despite what he told The Lens and Fox8 News last month.
Despite publicly committing to a “smaller, safer jail” in recent weeks, Sheriff Marlin Gusman sent architects a plan calling for 8,000 beds in his complex by 2020.
