NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman has long said that the closing of OPP and the opening of a new jail, the Orleans Justice Center, would resolve issues of crime that plagued the jailhouse for decades. But outside experts who testified Tuesday say that is not the case, and a salary increase for staff members requested by Gusman will likely not solve any issues either, according to remarks made in U.S. District Judge Lance Africk’s courtroom.
Outside experts have suggested the real problem is within the turnover rate and that the turnover rate is a result of a lack of training in the facility.
“The staff is not in control of the facility,” Susan McCampbell, who is overseeing a federally supervised jail reform effort, told Africk.
The issue boils down to hiring the wrong people, according to the monitors.
“Just because you have a warm body doesn’t mean you have the right person,” McCampbell said. The staff receives 2 and a half weeks of training.
Gusman was called to testify Tuesday, but his approach to Judge Africk was brief, stating minimal numbers on turnovers.
Gusman didn’t speak to any media after leaving the courthouse.
However, Blake Arcuri of his counsel remarked, “We do think that once we get that pay raise, and we have quality staff being hired and being retain before they leave and go to NOPD or a sheriff office in the region that are paying more money, that we will be able to see the violence go down, the reporting go up in the jail, and we’ll begin to operate as the monitors hope.”
The sheriff’s office is turning the blame over to Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration for its staffing crisis, saying it can’t recruit new hires because the city refuses to raise deputy pay.
McCampbell said her team recently discovered a medical log that revealed out of 150 incidents at the new jail, as many as 119 had not been reported to the monitors or sheriff’s office executives, including “things like broken hands, needs for stitches; some of them are traumatic injuries” such as brain trauma. 29 of those incidents were transfers from the jail to the ER that were unreported.
Judge Africk stressed that both sides need to come to an agreement by February 12, 2016, to avoid wasting tax dollars on legal fees.
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