Bernard Smith and Katy Reckdahl on the men trapped in the Orleans Parish Prison and Broad Street Bridge in the wake of the levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina that flooded New Orleans.
Tag: Orleans Parish Prison
Posted inKatrina20
Reforms resulted from the thousands left to drown in OPP
The 2005 abandonment of incarcerated people within the flooded Orleans Parish jail complex became one of the catalysts to reform the city’s dysfunctional justice system
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 inOpinion
Don’t expect a safe, humane Orleans Parish Prison any time soon; here’s why
Medical and psychiatric care is terrible and prisoners live in fear of being beaten or raped.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Former jailer says Gusman overcharging the state for deputy pay
Bryan Collins says about 50 deputies aren’t eligible for $500 a month in supplemental pay.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge Julian Parker orders financial bonds for all defendants in his court
Even arrestees rated as low-risk must go to a bail bondsman or post bail themselves.
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
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
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. […]