NEW ORLEANS — Following demands from Criminal Court judges and exclusive story by WWL-TV on the limited number of incarcerated defendants being brought to court for their scheduled hearings, Sheriff Susan Hutson scrambled to increase the numbers, almost doubling the transports over the past week.
But that didn’t stop Judge Laurie White from firing off a court order to increase the number of inmates to her section of court after only one of 11 defendants was brought to her section for hearings Thursday.
“It is the duty of the Sheriff to transfer inmates from the jail to Court for their hearings at any time the Court makes the proper request,” White wrote in a mandamus, which is a legal command to follow an order or law. In the case of inmate transfers to court, Louisiana law states that sheriffs “shall execute all writs, orders, and process of the court or judge thereof directed to him.”
White wrote in her mandamus, “Criminal Court Judges are elected to the bench full-time, which is 5 days a week; we are not elected by the people to serve or work part-time. Sheriff Hutson is creating a part-time Parish Criminal District Court with newly enacted rules.”
White’s subpoena orders Hutson to appear in her section of court Monday at 9:30 a.m. WWL-TV is still waiting on a response for comment from the sheriff’s office on the mandamus, but in an exclusive interview this week, Hutson said she is using creative deployment of her greatly reduced deputy pool to bring more inmates.
And by most accounts, Hutson has done just that. Despite Hutson informing the judges in a letter that deputy staffing “at critically dangerous lows,” the sheriff’s office almost doubled the number of inmates transferred to court from more than 50 to more than 80.
But deputy shortages are still a problem. Despite picking up the pace on the transfers, the Sheriff Office still has a limited number of deputies working inside the 12 sections of court to provide security.
With fewer deputies to transport inmates and serve as courthouse security, the sheriff’s office had been forced to send incarcerated defendants to each section of court only twice a week, and only six inmates at a time.
That problem hit Judge White, the veteran judge who presides over Section A, on Thursday. On the dockets of the 10 inmates who were scheduled for hearings but didn’t make it to court, the entries for Thursday state, “Defendant in custody and not brought into court.”
Other judges, however, were encouraged by the increase in transfers, which were far above the six per section limitations that had been in place.
In an exclusive interview Monday, Hutson said some of her top courthouse deputies have been working directly with the judges to increase the number of inmates brought to court and accelerate the pace of court hearing.
“We are partners in this system. And we're just trying to work out a plan so that the system functions,” Hutson said.
While working with the court to find solutions, the sheriff also said she has been candid about her office’s severe deputy shortage. Hutson estimated that the jail is staffed at less than 50 percent due to high turnover and resignations during the COVID pandemic.
