Great news, folks: Orleans Parish jail is one of a kind. Unlike almost any other jail you'll find in this country, we don't require maximum security housing.
The inmates at Orleans Parish won't act out so long as you refer to them as residents; they don’t need oversight so long as you give them iPads; they don’t need to be categorized and monitored based on the physical threat they pose to guards and fellow inmates; and, surely, they won't try to escape.
The more we learn, the more we realize we’re fortunate enough to have a special class of criminals who respond well to leniency.
At least, this is what Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson seemed to believe up until about a month ago. Because now, it seems like OPSO is doing a 180.
Why Orleans Parish Jail is reinstituting its segregation unit
Ever since the escape, the scene that’s unfolded over at the Orleans Parish Jailhouse has been nothing short of embarrassing.
It’s not just the defective locks, broken cameras, missing keys, busted pipes, and dilapidated infrastructure, despite being merely a decade-old facility. It’s not just the unmanned security booths, unguarded floors, or compromised staff. There’s more.
A recent report from our partners at NOLA.com reveals that, years ago, the Huston administration gave up on the jail’s high security tier, also known as a segregation unit, and it led to disaster.
What is this exactly?
In most jails, the high-security unit exists as a place to house inmates who pose a greater security risk, whether to guards or fellow inmates. It’s an area with greater restrictions on movement and heightened security. It exists for everyone's safety.
There’s an entire grading system for classifying inmates based on criminal histories, propensity for violence, and escape, etc. It ensures those who receive a high grade rightfully get placed in the special unit.
For example, the NOLA.com report explains that one of the escaped inmates, Lenton Vanburen (who's since been recaptured), had three counts of battery against correctional officers, the type of behavior that would typically land one in special housing.
When you look at the entire list of escapees, you see that most of them could have qualified. Over half had documented disciplinary problems, and as we already know, many of the crimes they were locked up for were violent in nature.
But OPSO didn’t have this segregation unit open. Why?
We're still getting to the bottom of it. I'll tell you one thing, it's not usual for a jail to be without one. These special units are standard in jails and penitentiaries in the United States and across the world… everywhere except, for some reason, in Orleans Parish.
To understand why, you can't ignore the fact that Sheriff Susan Hutson entered her role with a deliberate philosophy. This philosophy prioritized not safety, but emotional appeal. She threw out any traditional approach to inmate management and replaced it with a touchy-feely one.
Under this approach, “inmates” became “residents.” Instead of order and discipline, she gave them tablets.
Among other things that fell under the umbrella of this progressive ideology was the choice to nix the segregation unit.
Put simply, such thinking needs to end, and it needs to end now, preferably with Hutson's resignation as a symbol of charting a new course.
We can't compromise any longer if we're to retain any sense of law and order in this city. This isn’t a preschool you’re running. There’s no Montesorri approach to managing a jail. And you can’t sacrifice safety for philosophy. Just look at the results when ideology stood in the way of common sense.
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We also can't pretend like we didn't know this would happen.
Federal monitors raised serious red flags for years. Far before the jail break, there were detailed reports of deteriorating conditions. More violence, more in-custody deaths, more drugs, more sexual assault, fewer healthcare provisions, an emaciated staff.
It was a great period of backsliding. And, although it did not go unnoticed, it did go unaddressed. Then, 10 residents flew the coop, and now, OPSO is bending over backwards to try to save face.
You’ve already seen the drama with the city council. They're begging for funds (funds that OPSO has in reserve) and pointing fingers at anyone but themselves.
Now, Hutson and her crew have reversed the decision to do away with the segregation unit, but they’re doing so in a highly peculiar fashion. Instead of reopening the original tier, they’re opening both the original special housing unit and adding an additional one.
I want to be clear: I’m for reintroducing the segregation unit. However, I am baffled by the decision to double the space. Why not focus on the one to start? Why not do it right, then scale up? Do you even have the personnel to staff two segregation units?
In every meeting with the city council, you’ve complained about a dangerous lack of staff. Now they’re saying they need two segregation units? After having zero for years? How much money is going to be spent on this?
All I've heard so far are the plans to expand; I haven't heard a justification for said plans. And I hope the city council can get to the bottom of it, because if you're in the business of making additions, why not open up the mental illness unit that you’ve opposed instead? That seems more pertinent.
My radar is going off because it all feels like another, expensive knee-jerk reaction. One that could end up actually being counteractive to the whole purpose of reopening it in the first place. I'll repeat myself: why risk investing in two half-working special housing units when you could have one fully functioning one?