OPD FILES EMERGENCY HABEAS PETITION TO CRIMINAL DISTRICT COURT EN BANC FOR THE IMMEDIATE
RELEASE OF VULNERABLE AND LOW-RISK INMATES FROM ORLEANS PARISH SHERIFF CUSTODY
Today, the Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD) filed an emergency habeas petition En Banc to the entire Criminal District Court for the immediate release of vulnerable and low-risk inmates from the custody of the Sheriff. As COVID-19 reaches crisis levels in New Orleans, the threat to our most vulnerable citizens grows more serious without additional immediate and decisive action on the part of the courts.
National and local health experts agree no detention facility can protect against an outbreak of COVID-19. Once inside the jail, the virus will quickly overwhelm the capacity of both the jail and the city’s medical infrastructure.
“We have the opportunity to jump in front of a catastrophic outbreak in the jail, if immediate action is taken,” said Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton. “Bottom line, the jail is not safe – no jail is – for anyone in it. By their very nature, jails are a dangerous place for our clients, the deputies, medical staff, and other jail personnel when it comes to COVID-19. We must do more to prevent the spread of the virus and mitigate the dangers for everyone inside the jail. We are putting hundreds of people in the direct path of the contagion the longer we wait. We are imploring the Court to take action, even as NOPD continues to arrest for nonviolent charges that could otherwise be given a summons.”
New Orleans is facing one of the highest infection rates in the world, and refusing to take action could lead to the Orleans Justice Center becoming ground zero for community infection. At the same time, the vulnerable population inside the jail will consume precious treatment resources, we can conserve these resources with immediate action. COVID-19 is uniquely contagious and uniquely deadly. This is exactly why doctors and health officials urge social distancing and isolation. Reducing the jail population reduces the overall public health risk because it allows jail officials to better utilize isolation and social distancing inside the jail, where such action is at least challenging, and at worst, impossible.
At least eight states and local court systems—in Alabama, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Washington—as well as the District of Columbia, have already taken steps to limit incarceration during this crisis.
The motion requests the release of individuals in the following categories: people with risk factors such as age or underlying health conditions making them more susceptible to COVID-19; people being held on misdemeanor charges; people being held on felony charges that are not crimes of violence and/or sex charges; people being held on just probation or parole detainers; and all people serving a sentence who are within 30 days of their release dates.
“Limiting the impact of the criminal legal system should be paramount. We need to do our part to protect our communities from the threats of COVID-19,” said Bunton. “In this moment we cannot act like some people are unimportant. Right now the message is, ‘if you are poor and unable to bond out, your health and well-being is of far less importance,’ and that is not a message that flattens any curve.”
Media Contact:
Lindsey Hortenstine
404-520-3087
 In Re Vulnerable and Non-Violent Inmates in OJC.pdf |
