Another tough week for the city of New Orleans, not just in our streets and neighborhoods, but in the Orleans Parish Prison. On Monday, Chief Judge Sens of the Municipal and Traffic Court called into the show, upset by the fact he was not notified that Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson ordered all deputies to the jail, which shut down the courthouse. Later that day Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Hutson dodged questions from the media about the courts being shut down. I spoke with Metropolitan Crime Commission’s Rafael Goyeneche to see what he knows about the situation. He says it's clear - Hutson doesn’t know what it takes to be an effective sheriff.
I refer to Mayor Cantrell as the “milk carton mayor” because she is always missing when it is time for the city to talk about the crime problem. She just refuses to talk about it - and now, so is Hutson!
When she ran for mayor, her platform was about being transparent and available and she's been anything but that. My office made a public records request and learned the name of the victim killed in the jail. We released the name to the media this morning. It’s been four days and the sheriff’s office hasn't made any statements disclosing the name of this homicide victim or what's being done, as of yesterday. Decisions made by this sheriff are an indication that she does not truly understand what her responsibilities are. Also, Hutson doesn’t have anybody around her that can inform her of her responsibilities. Drawing deputies from the courthouse for security is in violation of state law.
I've received a number of reports that deputies never went to the jail. They sat around at the courthouse waiting for direction from the sheriff and never received any orders.
A courthouse official told me the same thing. Essentially, those deputies were allegedly needed for jail security, but no one got around to deploying them for jail security.
At what point do the judges who oversee the jail’s consent decree get involved in this situation?
I have to imagine Hutson’s actions are raising some concerns.
I was told Mrs. Hutson was called before those judges sometime on Monday. I was not privy to what happened but I suspect maybe that meeting prompted her to reinstate deputies back at the courthouse.