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New Orleans jail to offer limited free phone calls, tablet access for detainees
NEW ORLEANS — During her successful 2021 campaign for Orleans Parish Sheriff, Susan Hutson criticized the high fees — more than 20 cents per minute — that detainees in the city’s jail pay to make phone calls, saying she would work to provide free phone service. Two and a half years into her tenure, she’s […]
High abuse rates against LGBTQ, HIV-positive people in immigration detention, study finds
LGBTQ and HIV-positive people locked up in immigration detention centers are experiencing high rates of sexual assault, harassment and threats, according to a report released last month. The report, which was based on interviews with dozens of people who have been held by a federal immigration agency, found that nearly all of them had experienced […]
Immigrant advocates worry ‘sanctuary city’ bill will create mistrust, violate federal mandates
New Orleans immigrants’ rights advocates say that a bill in the Louisiana Legislature aiming to outlaw so-called “sanctuary cities” risks further straining already-tense relations between local law enforcement and immigrant communities in the city. And legal experts say the bill, if passed, would conflict with federal court orders restricting the New Orleans Police Department and […]
Guards at Louisiana ICE facility accused of illegally pepper-spraying detainees
A group of guards at a Louisiana immigrant detention center “indiscriminately” deployed pepper spray against hundreds of detainees who were participating in a January protest in their dorm unit before sealing them in the unit for hours, according to a complaint filed Wednesday by civil rights groups. The complaint, which was submitted to the U.S. Immigration […]
Under Trump, ICE in New Orleans granted few releases. What has changed?
NEW ORLEANS — In the five years since the New Orleans-based Immigrations and Customs Enforcement regional office was accused in a federal class-action lawsuit of illegally detaining hundreds of immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, release rates in cases handled by the office have significantly improved, according to the civil rights attorneys who filed […]
Louisiana still leads nation for state prisoners held in local jails
NEW ORLEANS — More than half of Louisiana prisoners in state custody are serving their time in local jails rather than state facilities, recently released federal data show. As of 2022, more than 14,000, or 53% of prisoners under the jurisdiction of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, were in local jails — […]
Citing history of alleged abuse, groups call on ICE to end contract at former Louisiana prison
A coalition of immigrant rights organizations is urging the federal government to stop housing immigration detainees at Winn Correctional Center, a privately run former Louisiana state prison, citing what they say is a long history of violence, abuse and negligence. In a letter to Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, the […]
Recently unearthed report raises concerns about suicide prevention at Louisiana immigration center
A recently unearthed internal report by a federal civil rights office found serious deficiences in suicide prevention practices at a privately managed immigration detention center in Louisiana, including poor staff training and mental health screening procedures that “probably resulted in the under-reporting and under-identification of detainees who are at risk for suicide.” The 2017 report, […]
Appeals court stays order to remove youth from Angola
NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Wednesday halted a federal judge’s order that the state of Louisiana shut down a controversial temporary youth detention center on the grounds of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The order will pause a deadline for the state Office of Juvenile Justice […]
Almost all sheriffs in Louisiana are white men. Fall election candidates seek to change that.
Elected sheriffs, among the most powerful figures in local law enforcement, are overwhelmingly white men in Louisiana. In a state with a Black population of more than 30%, only four out of 64 sheriffs are Black, and only one — Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson — is a woman. But this fall, voters will have […]
Louisiana backpedals on deal to pause youth transfers to adult penitentiary
The state of Louisiana on Wednesday withdrew from an agreement to temporarily stop transferring incarcerated youth to a former death row unit on the grounds of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The reversal came at the end of the final day of a hearing in Baton Rouge federal court on an emergency motion — […]
Alleged ‘harmful conditions’ for youth at Angola may violate Constitution, feds say
The state of Louisiana may have violated the civil rights of dozens of juveniles it has sent to a temporary detention facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola over the past nine months, by allegedly subjecting the youths to “harmful conditions,” including solitary confinement, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. On Friday (July […]