NEW ORLEANS — The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office announced on Wednesday that one official was stepping down and that four others had been terminated.
Major Robert Donnelly will leave his role as director of the OPSO training division, after 36 years working for the sheriff's office. There was no immediate replacement announced.
Sheriff Susan Hutson said in the same statement that four officers had been terminated for cause. Captains Jerry Martin, Mark Jones, Cathy Taylor and Danny Henry all served the sheriff as unit managers.
There was no additional information in the statement about why these officers were terminated.
"We are making a strategic realignment of certain positions," Sheriff Hutson said about the terminations. "To ensure that we have well-trained correctional officers who also have an opportunity to advance their careers here at the Sheriff's Office."
The sheriff's office has come under fire due to a stormy year that has seen several stabbings, a couple of inmate deaths and even a highly-publicized lock-in by inmates who barricaded themselves inside of an area of the jail.
That ended when the Department of Corrections lent aid to the sheriff's deputies in quelling the action.