The Orleans Parish Criminal District Court will remain closed until Sept. 20 following the destruction of Hurricane Ida, the court’s judges said via an order on Friday.
The closure of the courthouse comes with several others across the southeastern part of the state, which is still experiencing widespread power and internet outages a week after the storm first made landfall.
Related
Other courts in New Orleans will also be closed for an extended period of time; this includes Civil District Court, 1st City Court, and 2nd City court, which announced their closures until Sept. 20.
In addition, the Municipal and Traffic Court and Orleans Parish Juvenile Court will also be closed until further notice, NOLA.com reported.
The shutdown at the Criminal District Court will mark the longest gap between criminal jury trials in modern history. No single jury trial has happened since the first COVID-19 case was detected in Louisiana in March 2020.
The Magistrate court will remain open to set bail and have district judges handling emergency matters, the court said, NOLA.com reported. All hearings scheduled until the court reopens will be reset.
More than 800 inmates in Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office custody had been transported to state Department of Public Safety and Corrections facilities before the storm hit land last Sunday.
Related
Sheriff Marlin Gusman gave no timeline for their return in a statement on Friday.
“Until conditions in the City of New Orleans have improved, roadways are cleared, and we are able to properly manage the care of inmates within our own facilities, these individuals will remain in various State Department of Public Safety & Corrections facilities. We will inform the public once this transfer takes place,” Gusman said.
Since the evacuation, more than 102 new arrestees have been booked into the jail for numerous offenses. These included 50 looting counts, 18 domestic violence counts, and five violations of the 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in effect. As of Friday afternoon, the jail had 88 people in its custody.
