Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition Blocks Jail Entrance - Calls For Urgent Action in Response to Jail Conditions

From a press release from the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition: 

Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC) members and supporters gathered today at 10:00am at the intersection of Tulane & Broad, and marched to the Intake & Processing Center at 730 S. Dupre St. where they partially blocked the jail entrance and called for a moratorium on admissions to a facility where conditions continue to be inhuman, unconstitutional and life-threatening. 

OPPRC suggests that the City needs to find other alternatives rather than continuing to house people in an “unsafe and violent jail” and called for urgent steps to be taken in an open letter to Susan Guidry and other members of the City Council's Criminal Justice Committee released on March 13, 2014. In the letter, OPPRC asserts that “We cannot simply continue to expose individuals who are in custody or individuals who work at the jail to these extremely dangerous conditions.” Within ten days of the letter's release another individual died in custody following a fight between prisoners in the jail's temporary housing unit known as "the tents."

OPPRC claims that the consent decree has not resulted in significant improvement in the conditions in the jail, citing the first report of the federal monitoring team which found that inmates in OPP “continue to experience severe problems with shoddy medical care, violence and a general attitude of apathy toward their grievances.”

OPPRC also is renewing its call for Mayor Landrieu to declare the jail to be in a state of emergency, thus triggering the release of persons held for minor, non-violent crimes.  “Many of the people currently in OPP pose zero risk to public safety- as evidenced by the fact that they would simply be released under hurricane evacuation conditions. Instead, they are held in OPP, on taxpayer’s money, where they are in danger of being beaten, raped, stabbed, or possibly even killed in the jail,” said Yvette Thierry. “We cannot in good conscience hold people subject to this dehumanizing violence. The City is responsible for their safety. The Mayor has the responsibility to stop this bloodshed.”

There have been 25 in-custody deaths in OPP since 2009, and up to 73 inmates a month are sent to the emergency room.

“This Day, We Use Our Energy for Revolution”

Reprinted from our friends at Women With A Vision:

This past Sunday, WWAV gathered with friends, allies and fellow organizers in a Solidarity Rally for Trayvon Martin. We want to personally thank everyone who came out so that we could raise our voices in unison.  This is the beauty of New Orleans.  Every change that has happened in this city has arisen through the work of people coming together across issues to imagine the world we want to live in.  We can do it again.  All of us have the ability to make change.  We only need to be at the table, to create tables that are missing, to stay the course, and to do the hard work of revolutionary transformation.

Please see below for an excerpt from our Executive Director, Deon Haywood’s, call to action.  Our deepest thanks to Ada McMahon from Bridge the Gulf for recording and transcribing Deon’s speech.

“This Day, We Use Our Energy for Revolution”
By Deon Haywood, Executive Director, Women With A Vision, Inc.

Am I crying because yet again the Criminal Justice system, or the U.S. system of so-called justice, disappointed me again? I felt like a jilted lover because yet again, I looked for you to do something different, and you didn’t. And you hurt me again.

This morning when I thought about it, I just had this overwhelming feeling of, please please please, let people feel and move – and be reactionary, because that’s the first urge we get – but please can we move to revolution.

When I was in my early 20s, I used to go to meetings for the All People’s African Revolutionary Party. And I didn’t think it fit me as a Black queer woman, but it fit me in terms of what I felt needed to be done for my community. Remember I’m one of those people, always trying to decide what side I need to take.

I want a revolution. I want and I’m calling for a revolution, not in a very violent way. And I want to make sure people understand that. Sometimes when you say revolution, in this country, we fear that in some way that means violence. What it means is to have a plan.

You don’t have to join Women with A Vision. We get it all the time “y’all don’t talk enough about men”. But sometimes you don’t want to stand with me, because we do talk about queer people and women and their issues and criminalization.

What I’m asking for, is join somebody! I am almost pleading, and holding back the level of emotion I’m feeling. Do something!

I’ve been talking to people all day. I don’t want to hear one more person, in front of me – y’all can do it with each other, whoever you are, but not with me – tell me, “Well, young Black men kill each other all the time, so George Zimmerman couldn’t respect Trayvon.” Two separate issues!

I have no desire to change the minds of people like George Zimmerman. I will NOT waste my energy on that. Because I’ll be dead and gone and my grandchildren will be still trying. But what we all can do is lend our energy to [fighting] those systems and the ideology that makes us think a certain way.

That we work within our communities so young Black men value themselves. How can you value what other people do not?!  So if you hear somebody say that to you, challenge them. You tell them that what they are dealing with is oppression, and poverty, and lack of education, and lack of love for self, and internalized racism. You tell them that.

I am not a begging woman, but I am almost pleading, pleading for every one person who is not here, I do not want this moment to go away, like every historical moment goes away, until another one happens, and we’re talking about the last time, and remember, because it always happens!

I really want this time to be different. I want to figure out who we meet with this week, next week, once a week, once a month, and what community are we going in, what group are we going to work with, what conversations are we going to have within our community, with our families, about making things different?

I want to know next time OPPRC (Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition) is out there challenging the criminal justice system, or anybody in this city who is fighting for someone’s LIFE – We talk about rights, but sometimes there’s a thin line between rights and your LIFE – I want you to stand up. And I want you to be angry and frustrated enough that you can not longer sit down. That you get up in the morning, you say, “What am I gonna do today?”

And for those of you who feel like you can’t. If you feel like you cannot do it, then donate to those who will. Figure out how to support them. For somebody who runs a grassroots organization, I can tell you, the reason we exist, after an act of violence, was because of so many people out here. Whether it was a small party of $100, $500, it means another day for us to fight oppression and injustice in this city. So I ask you. Don’t let this moment end and feel like,”I went to the park! And I supported that event in the park!”

Tell me six months from now that you’re still supporting this event. Tell me a year from now you are still supporting this moment. That you wake up! I like putting things out in the universe: That you speak. That we speak.

This day, we use our energy for revolution.

These remarks have been edited slightly by Ada McMahon at Bridging the Gulf for clarity.

Photo by Sasha Matthews.

Inside Orleans Parish Prison, By Rosana Cruz

From the Bridge the Gulf blog:
In a letter to the editors of the Times-Picayune this month, New Orleans resident Mona Castillo wrote that the key to decreasing crime is to make prison "less comfortable." She wrote, "At the present time, jails are more like hotels. Many prisoners live better there than they did on the outside."

This struck a nerve for a member of the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC), who has a very difference experience of the Orleans Parish Prison. In submitting that member's letter to the editors of the Times-Picayune, the OPPRC wrote:

"We are requesting an exception to the Times-Picayune policy that in order to be considered for publication, letters must be signed. The member who wrote this letter has deep and legitimate fears that if her name were included, the relative who is in prison might experience retribution from the Sheriff or other prison staff. Given the attacks on those who spoke out at recent forums regarding prison conditions, we hope you will agree that this fear is very real and legitimate and make an exception to your otherwise understandable policy. We would appreciate a response from you regarding whether you are willing to waive your policy and consider publishing this letter."

The Times-Picayune did not publish that letter, and so we are publishing it here:

As someone with a relative in Orleans Parish Prison, I challenge Mona Castillo’s opinion that jails are more like hotels, where the living is enjoyable. For the last two years I have known OPP through a pre-trial detainee’s experiences, documented by our daily telephone calls, visits, and conversations with prison staff. Orleans Parish Prison is a cesspool. There is no air-conditioning and no heat, no maintenance is done on the buildings, showers are covered in mold. The only cleaning product available is bleach, which they use to scrub the walls in an effort to keep illness at bay.

Inmates are overcrowded and have very limited access to medical care. While they are supposed to be brought outside daily, they sometimes do not go in the yard for weeks or months at a time. In OPP, there are no cell phones, connubial visits, weight rooms, or other amenities. There are TVs, but they are shared, sometimes one for 40 or 50 men. Breakfast is served at 5:30 a.m., followed by dinner at 9:30 p.m. 'White' meat is left in the open for them to eat at risk to their health during the rest of the day. Cells are carpeted with roaches and rats.

Perhaps the largest problem is the lack of safety. OPP detainees go for 5, 6, 7 hours without seeing a guard. Being packed on each other like animals, treated like animals, and left unsupervised creates violence in the prison walls.

Ms. Castillo is correct about one thing – OPP does not foster a decrease in crime. On the contrary, the OPP environment breeds more crime. These inhumane conditions lead to both an increase in crime within the prison and without – spilling the internal violence back on to the streets when detainees are released. Even more unfortunate is the fact that many of these inmates have not yet been to trial, but are simply unable to make bail. Where is the presumption of innocence?

Rosana Cruz is Associate Director of VOTE (Voice Of The Ex-offender), and a member of the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition. Previously Rosana worked with Safe Streets/Strong Communities and the National Immigration Law Center. Prior to joining NILC, she worked with SEIU1991 in Miami, after having been displaced from New Orleans by Katrina. Before the storm, Rosana worked for a diverse range of community organizations, including the Latin American Library, Hispanic Apostolate, the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans, and People's Youth Freedom School. Rosana came to New Orleans through her work with the Southern Regional Office of Amnesty International in Atlanta.

Community Profile: Eugene Dean

From our friends at VOTE-NOLA:
Eugene Dean has been with VOTE from the very beginning, when the organization sprang from an effort of incarcerated men within Angola to organize people both inside and outside of the prison around the right to vote. “We had the Angola Special Civics Project and then we continued to work trying to change policies and laws,” explains Dean. "We really focused on trying to get some laws passed regarding parole eligibility.”

From his own experience re-registering to vote, Eugene has realized how much the community still needs the consciousness raising and mobilization that VOTE undertakes. “When I went to register to vote the lady in the voter registration office said she didn’t know if I could vote and I had to explain it to the head person in charge, “he says. "He told me I sounded like I knew what I was talking about and signed my letter.”

These misconceptions are not just limited to those that have no experience with incarceration, but are also perpetuated within communities that are directly impacted by the criminal justice system. “I think that misconceptions happen because at the time people’s offense takes place, they aren’t educated [about voting],” adds Dean. “People have been led to believe that once you get a conviction you lose all your rights.”

Eugene is a living example of the principle of education leading to advocacy. Now that he has regained the right to vote, he works constantly to give civic and legal advice to family and friends. “My favorite aspect is bringing incarcerated people’s issues to light,” he says. “My family and friends call me with advice because I have been through the legal system.”

Eugene’s advocacy doesn’t stop at the issue of re-enfranchisement. One of the ways that being in VOTE has got him thinking about the criminal justice system is by becoming involved in jail reform issues connected to OPP. “I didn’t know all the interaction in the way that things are structured, as far as how the sheriff goes about getting his funds,” he explains. “The jail issue brought me to the next level.”

A member from the very start, Eugene has been able to witness the things that VOTE has accomplished in a first-hand way that helps him brainstorm for future efforts. “I’m excited about future work on ban the box,” he says, adding, “I’d like to see more young people involved.”

Mayor Landrieu (Hardly) Responds to one of New Orleans' Most Urgent Issues, By Rosana Cruz

From our friends at Bridge the Gulf:
On November 29th, a coalition of over 30 local organizations delivered a petition with more than 2,200 signatures to Mayor Mitch Landrieu, calling for reform of Orleans Parish Prison. Specifically, the petition demanded that the Mayor formally commit to capping the size of the new facility being built by the Sheriff’s Office at 1,438 beds, and that the City Council end the “per diem” budget system for the jail. Under the “per diem” system, the Sheriff’s budget is set per person per day they’re held in the jail, creating an incentive to keep people in jail for longer.



The petition delivery happened just days before the City Council was set to vote on the Mayor’s budget, which included the Sheriff’s budget for the jail.



Two days later, rather than providing leadership and making clear his position on the jail size issue, the Mayor’s office sent the following reply to Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC):

December 1, 2011

Dear Concerned Citizens:

Thank you for your passion and energy regarding this extremely important issue. I am committed to transforming New Orleans’ criminal justice system and a right-sized jail is an important piece of the puzzle. Throughout the last year my administration has initiated a transparent public process regarding the prison facility. This open dialogue has been constructive and is still ongoing. I look forward to continuing this work together.

Sincerely,

Mitch

Mitchell J. Landrieu
Mayor, City of New Orleans

This condescending response is completely devoid of any mention of the 1,438 cap or the per diem system. We at OPPRC fear that the Mayor’s non-committal stance is an indication that back-room deals are still being cut, in order for the Sheriff to build a larger facility.


The fight over the jail size has been going on for more than a year. One year ago, in response to mounting pressure from a diverse range of community groups and individuals, Mayor Landrieu convened the Criminal Justice Working Group, to determine the size of the new jail facility. The Working Group recommended the City cap the number of beds at 1,438, and the New Orleans City Council included this number in the ordinance that approved zoning for the construction of the new jail facility. But Mayor Landrieu has made no formal commitment to adhere to this recommendation.

The time for a formal commitment from the Mayor has come.
 
 
“You can’t bring a group together to answer a vital question and then just abandon the answer that they offered when it becomes politically inconvenient,” said Norris Henderson, Executive Director of VOTE (Voice Of The Ex-offender), a member organization of OPPRC (and the organization I work for). “The fact is that OPP needs to be reformed and it needs to be smaller. We believe the Mayor should listen to the thousands of individuals who signed this petition and commit to the cap. New Orleans doesn’t need more than 1,438 jail beds.”



The proposed cap would still leave New Orleans at 43.8% more jail beds per capita than the national average, even if the city reaches a population of 400,000.
 


The City Council responded to the petitions by committing to end the per diem system within the year. At least they appear to be taking the issue more seriously then the Mayor. But the time for action to stop New Orleans’ over-incarceration is past due.
 


New Orleans is at a crossroads. The Mayor can listen to the thousands of people, locals, criminal justice experts, crime victims who are asking for a brighter, smarter way forward, or he can choose to keep New Orleans in the dark ages, home of America’s largest jail. Let’s invest in real justice, Mr. Mayor. Save the city’s resources and invest in things that prevent crime, not this jail that has only made our crime problem worse.


Rosana Cruz is Associate Director of VOTE (Voice Of The Ex-offender). Previously Rosana worked with Safe Streets/Strong Communities and the National Immigration Law Center. Prior to joining NILC, she worked with SEIU1991 in Miami, after having been displaced from New Orleans by Katrina. Before the storm, Rosana worked for a diverse range of community organizations, including the Latin American Library, Hispanic Apostolate, the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans, and People's Youth Freedom School. Rosana came to New Orleans through her work with the Southern Regional Office of Amnesty International in Atlanta.

Two Years After the DOJ Calls Conditions at OPP Unconstitutional, Billboard on I-10 Calls for Action at Orleans Parish Prison

From our friends at the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition:
Exactly two years after the Department of Justice issued it’s September 11, 2009 report that found a practice of the violation of civil rights of individuals held at Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC) launched a new phase of its public education campaign for reform of the jail, with a billboard on I-10 and the announcement of a series of community forums. The billboards include a set of five rotating messages, including support for a smaller jail of no more than 1438 beds, an end to the per-diem system, and immediate action by the Department of Justice to improve conditions at the facility.
The recommendation for a smaller facility comes after national experts and a Criminal Justice Working Group convened by Mayor Landrieu determined that, through the implementation of reforms including pre-trial services, reducing racial disparities in lengths of detention, and increasing the use of citations in lieu of minor arrests, a jail of 1438 beds could be sufficient for the City of New Orleans. While the City Council approved a replacement jail of this size in February 2011 following this recommendation, there is significant work that remains for the full implementation of these reforms. According to Norris Henderson, Executive Director of VOTE, an OPPRC member organization, “The city needs to move aggressively towards implementing the types of reforms considered by the Criminal Justice Working Group, which when completed can be a beacon of pride for the city. Similar reforms have been demonstrated in other cities to improve public safety, to reduce jail populations, and to save invaluable taxpayer dollars. New Orleans can do it as well.”
OPPRC is also calling for an end to the per diem system, or the funding of the jail through payment by the City for each individual held daily in OPP. While the per diem is $22.39 per inmate, the actual cost is over $30 daily, including the additional costs of health care and staffing paid by the City to the Sheriff. This will cost the city $27.5 million this year. As stated by Mayor Landrieu at the August 9th District B Community Budget meeting, “If we pay (the Sheriff) per person, per day, the argument is he has an incentive to keep more people. What we really need to do is ensure that he keeps only the number that we need him to keep and no more.” New Orleans is the only major US city in the United States that finances its jail through a per diem system. As stated by Dana Kaplan, Director of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL), “Given both the perverse incentive that the per diem creates to incarcerate more people and the fact that $22.39 per person is insufficient to safely operate a jail, there should be no obstacle this budget cycle to ending the outdated per diem system and transitioning to a performance based approach to funding OPP.”
Finally, in the wake of sweeping reform of the New Orleans Police Department and two years after their initial findings that the jail consistently violates the civil rights of people held in its care, OPPRC is also calling for the Department of Justice to take action to improve conditions at Orleans Parish Prison. Since their report was issued in September 2009, conditions have only deteriorated and thirteen more people have died in the custody of the jail.
On September 20th the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition will be hosting a public forum, for all community members concerned about conditions at OPP and related issues to have an opportunity to speak and offer recommendations for reform. The forum will be held from 6 – 8 pm at the Mahalia Jackson Center in Central City, located at 2405 Jackson Avenue. Representatives from the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice have been invited to attend.

Coalition Concerned with Lack of Transparency on OPP Expansion Plan

From our friends at the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition:
The Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC), a varied group of individuals and organizations from all over the New Orleans community, is concerned by the lack of transparency from the Criminal Justice Working Group, a Mayoral-appointed body charged with evaluating Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s plan to expand the Orleans Parish Prison.

The OPPRC has expressed three key reservations about the Working Group’s process:

1) Lack of attention and opportunity for public input, lack of transparent process. After months of deliberations and with minimal input from the New Orleans community, two public hearings have finally been scheduled to generate community input about the OPP expansion plan. However, the planning for these public hearings has been logistically disorganized—from the lack of timely public notification, to a last minute change of date, to indeterminate venues—and the public has not had access to information such as published proposals, updated budgets, blueprints, designs and regular progress reports. This disorganization and lack of information reduces the opportunity for a cross-section of the population to provide input about a project that could cost taxpayers as much as $250,000,000. Additionally, the OPPRC is concerned that the public will not have an opportunity to review and give input to the recommendations of the Working Group before these recommendations are turned over to the Mayor.

2) The Working Group does not have essential information required to make an informed opinion. The OPPRC contends that it is unacceptable that a publicly funded project that would directly affect the lives of thousands of people could advance without basic information about the jail’s construction cost, financing, operating costs, total prisoner capacity, and use of capacity upon completion. The Working Group has not been provided, or has yet to disclose, an explanation on the total number of prisoners by group the project intends to incarcerate. It is still unclear as to whether the jail will house state or federal prisoners and if so, how many. Further, with NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas’ recent announcement that the NOPD will no longer arrest people with outstanding warrants for non-violent offenses, there is an expected decrease in prisoner length of stay. There has been little consideration, if any, of data on jail sizes in comparable cities around the country, nor has any alternative to the Sheriff’s proposal been sought. The Working Group must factor into its recommendations specific figures related to arrest procedures, prisoner classification, national best practices and prison size. This information is crucial if the Working Group is to make informed and reliable recommendations on the efficacy of the proposed OPP expansion.

3) There is not enough time for the Working Group to deliberate. The Working Group plans to issue its recommendations on the OPP expansion project on November 22nd, 2010. This timeline does not allow the Working Group to generate sufficient public input nor does the timeline engender public trust in the Working Group’s capacity to incorporate the basic information necessary to make informed recommendations.

The OPPRC calls for a third public hearing with at least two weeks public notice and confirmed date, times, and venue before the Working Group submits its recommendations to Mayor Landrieu. Additionally, in preparation for this meeting, the public should have access to up-to-date planning and financial documents, proposals, and reports, including the recently completed “Jail Population Projections Study Base Projection and Alternatives” report furnished by Dr. James Austin.