NEW ORLEANS — The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office was blasted by a federal magistrate judge at a hearing Thursday for, “lack of transparency,” regarding the construction of a “Phase III” building to house mentally ill inmates as well as a host of other issues.
U.S. Magistrate Michael North ordered the sheriff’s office and city to appear in court after hearing about meetings regarding Phase III that included a corrections expert, James Austin, who had previously worked for the city.
North specifically wanted to know if Austin was being paid and whether he was discussing Hutson’s preference for a “retrofit” of the existing Orleans Justice Center rather than a new building.
“It should be clear to anyone paying attention to this case that retrofitting OJC to address the pressing issue of medical and mental health care will not happen,” North wrote in his order calling for the previously unscheduled status hearing.
While sheriff’s attorney Graham Bosworth wrote a response stating that Hutson recognizes that the construction of Phase III is now an iron-clad court order, he nevertheless got an earful from North at the court hearing.
North was especially concerned about Austin being brought to the jail and attending meetings without his knowledge. While Bosworth responded that
Austin was not paid by the sheriff and was only volunteering advice on how to enhance the existing jail to make it safer, North insisted that he be kept in the loop, criticizing the sheriff for a “lack of transparency.”
North also brought up recent fights, at least four stabbings and last weekend’s inmate riot at the jail as matters on which the court needs to be notified immediately.
“Not one word from the sheriff’s office,” North said from the bench. “Silence. Crickets. No communication. No nothing.”
“What we need is a course correction and we need it immediately,” North added.
WWL-TV is awaiting a response from the Sheriff’s Office on Thursday’s hearing.
But in the written response to North’s order, Bosworth seemed to acknowledge that any talk of a “retrofit” is a dead issue, even though Hutson campaigned on trying to scrap Phase III and outfitting the existing OJC to meet the mental health needs of inmates.
“Sheriff Hutson and OPSO are not working to (retrofit) the OJC rather than constructing the Phase III facility,” Bosworth wrote.
“Sheriff Hutson is actively attempting to provide short-term solutions to protect the well-being of residents (inmates), employees and contractors within OJC over the next few years.”
Bosworth continued, “These safety enhancements are being implemented because the jail needs structural safety enhancements now – not two years from no; let alone four years from now.”