Tagged: corrections

The new attorneys for the only Angola inmate still facing trial in the 1999 beating and stabbing death of a prison security officer told a state judge they probably will file a motion to postpone their client's trial.

The Advocate reports the trial for Barry Edge, who already is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, is scheduled to begin Jan. 17.

Defense attorney Steve Lemoine told retired Orleans Parish Judge Jerome M. Winsberg Friday that he sees problems in getting the case together.

With the St. James Juvenile Detention Center set to close next year, officials are eyeing alternatives for housing juvenile offenders.

St. James Parish officials say they will close the detention center at the end of June because new state regulations would make it more expensive to keep the facility open.

The Advocate reports that Assumption Parish officials say they can fill the void and house juvenile offenders from an eight-parish area at a converted adult detention center in Napoleonville.

The costs of many prison phone calls are set to drop over the next couple of years.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission agreed Wednesday to a revamped proposal that will shrink the price tag for prisoners to call home, after complaints that current rates were too high and burdensome on poor families.

The PSC unanimously agreed to cut the rates charged for prison calls by about 25 percent when a prisoner is calling family, legal counsel, clergy or certain government agencies like schools. All surcharges will be removed.

The City of New Orleans is reviewing a consent decree designed to revamp operations at the parish jail. Federal officials are looking to the city to correct conditions they found unconstitutional.