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Orleans Parish sheriff shares 2023-2024 Annual Report following two-year anniversary
By Rick Gogreve,
15 days ago
NEW ORLEANS ( WGNO ) — It’s been two years since Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson took office. On Wednesday, May 1, she hosted a town hall meeting where she reflected on what went well and the challenges ahead.
Hutson began the town hall by discussing the present status of the jail, primarily focusing on the population. It is currently housing just over 1,200 residents, just under the 1,250-maximum limit.
Hutson says the already crowded jail along with the new bill passed that classifies 17-year-olds as adults has a chance to cause some issues in the near future.
“There’s the issue of taking care of those younger residents, which are around four times more expensive to house and to feed and to educate and all those things that we have to do for our residents,” said Hutson.
The goal for the future is to reduce that population to about 850 residents.
“That would be enough to house those who are committing violent offenses in our community. With that goal in mind, we’re aiming to get others out who are misdemeanors, state misdemeanors, other types of offenses where we could move them quicker,” said Hutson.
One way the sheriff’s office hopes to keep its population low is by fully assessing each resident and starting re-entry preparations the second they come through the jail.
“For instance, we had a resident come in who was homeless, and we knew he would be released soon, but if he was released, he would be right back. We worked with our team to make sure he had a place to go to and some resources, some support when he left,” said Hutson.
As for the federal consent decree, Hutson says she is doing everything in her power to move on from it, such as creating a compliance and accountability bureau.
“There were around 10 areas that were non-compliant. So, we are trying to get those at least into partial compliance before the end of this year and we have action plans to make that happen,” Hutson said.
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