Tagged: Sheriff Marlin Gusman

The New Orleans jail now has a plan to fix its troubled record of inmate violence and staff misconduct. The problem now is how to pay for improvements.

The U.S. Justice Department is asking to join a class action lawsuit that accuses Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman of overseeing a jail that routinely subjects prisoners to brutal, inhumane conditions.

The federal agency filed a request Monday in federal court, asking to be included as a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in April by the Southern Poverty Law Center contending the jail's conditions violate the U.S. Constitution.

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. He has completely emptied two jails: the Temporary Jail and the Temporary Detention Center, more commonly known as the “Tents.”

Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman confirmed Friday that he is working to outsource the management of the lucrative off-duty private security details available to his deputies.

In a written statement, Gusman said that “the Sheriff’s Office is reviewing a plan that involves a third party to assist with the handling of detail assignments,” but nothing has been decided.

Gusman said that his office is “working to update many of our policies and reporting rules to increase the efficiency and accountability of the paid detail program.”

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Justice Department says its recent inspection of the New Orleans jail found "alarming conditions" and uncovered persistently high rates of prisoner-on-prisoner violence and staff misconduct. Authorities have been negotiating terms of a consent decree that would require certain changes at Orleans Parish Prison.