By Gabriella Killett
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
NEW ORLEANS —The Orleans Parish jail is 95% staffed ahead of Tropical Storm Francine, more than twice what it would be on an average day, the sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff Susan Hutson said the agency has also deployed 45 deputies to assist the New Orleans Police Department throughout its eight city districts during the storm. Deputies are working double shifts to ensure the jail’s shelter-in-place procedures run smoothly, she said.
“People inside of this jail are first and foremost men and women of this city,” Hutson said. “We are taking good care of them.”
The work began Tuesday morning when the sheriff’s office took four buses to evacuate 154 people from parish facilities.
The evacuees were sent to undisclosed jails within the state’s prison system, Hutson said “security concerns” kept her from sharing where the inmates were taken, but she said they had been held at the Orleans Justice Center’s Temporary Detention Center and Temporary Mental Health Pod, which are housed in a building that is prone to flooding.
Officials also released 33 individuals from custody due to court orders allowing them to do so. This subset of people included inmates who were suspected of low-level crimes, had failed to pay fines and fees, who’d been booked with contempt of court or who were awaiting trials in misdemeanor cases.
All those either released or evacuated constitute 12% of the jail’s population of 1,448 people, higher than the maximum capacity of 1,250 set by the New Orleans City Council.
All remaining detainees will shelter in place with diesel- and gas-powered generators at the ready for potential power outages.
The sheriff’s office said that all inmates will continue to have access to phones to be able to communicate with their families. The public agency said it will also continue to run its Crime Victims’ Reparations Unit throughout the storm. Victims looking for resources can call (504) 827-6754 or (504) 202-9229 to get in touch with the sheriff’s office.
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