This jail is so troubled that prisoners are hurting themselves to get away from it

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/this-jail-is-so-troubled-that-prisoners-are-hurting-themselves-to-get-away-from-it/ar-BBsfxLh?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

The way the Justice Department tells it, conditions at the jail in Orleans Parish, La., are so bad that inmates are hurting themselves in hopes of getting transferred. Violence has spiraled “out of control” — in just the first 11 weeks of this year, there were 114 prisoner-on-prisoner fights and 12 assaults on staff — and there are no suicide-resistant cells or other necessary safeguards for those on suicide watch.

In one particularly egregious incident, a 61-year-old boxing instructor who never saw a mental health provider — even though an intake screening showed he probably should — hanged himself in a shower stall. He was able to lock the stall from the inside, and a nurse had to crawl under the door and remove the noose with a pair of scissors because the jail’s tool to cut down inmates did not work.

The Orleans Parish jail system has long been troubled: In 2013, a judge ordered widespread reforms as part of a consent decree. But the Justice Department alleges now that the sheriff is not holding up his end of the bargain, and conditions in the jail are not improving. They want a judge to take the “extraordinary” step of appointing a receiver to fully take over jail operations.

“Prisoners at the Orleans Parish Jail,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a court filing Monday, “are in grave danger.”

In a statement, Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman said the Justice Department’s filing “contains numerous inaccuracies and misleading statements,” and he looked forward to demonstrating in court he was “making substantial strides towards consent decree compliance.”

“We recognize there is more work to be done but will not allow this move by the Plaintiffs to undermine the accomplishments and sacrifices of the hard working deputies and staff at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office,” the sheriff said.

Orleans Parish recently opened a new $145 million jail, but by the Justice Department’s telling, the building did not alleviate some of the ingrained problems. In a 61-page page filing, Justice Department lawyers alleged prisoners there are “largely unsupervised,” and youthful prisoners are simply locked in punitive isolation because the jail lacks adequate housing for them.