NEW ORLEANS — Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman is headed into a runoff this December. His opponent hopes to take over the jail that Gusman has been running for 17 years.
First time candidate, Susan Hutson forced the longtime Sheriff into a runoff. Gusman needed more than half of votes to secure his fifth term. He received 47.7 percent. Hutson received 35.4 percent.
"I'm always a little nervous on any elections. I've been on runoffs before though and been successful," Gusman said Monday.
Gusman is a seasoned politician who was voted in as sheriff in 2004 after serving in the city council. Since 2010, Hutson has been working as the New Orleans Independent Police Monitor.
"We hear over and over and over again - 'we need change.' It's time for change, after 17 years we need to do something better," Hutson said Monday.
One of Gusman's top priorities is building a new FEMA funded jail space specifically for people with medical and mental health needs.
"We cannot house the mentally ill together with the general population," Gusman said, showing renderings of the separate space he plans to build for them. " You want to be able to deliver services to the mentally ill right in that same setting, have group sessions, individual sessions, don’t have bars, have jail fronts."
Hutson strongly opposes the plan. It comes with about a $50 million price tag. FEMA is expected to cover $36 million, but the city's chief administrative officer, Ramsey Green, said in June 2020 the city was not financially prepared to cover the remaining cost.
"This is a waste of money," Hutson said. "The last report from the monitors show it's less than 20 people who have mental illness and committed crime. It's a very small number."
Hutson criticizes the jails current operation which has been under a consent decree for nearly a decade.
"I'm hearing an earful from people who have been in there in custody, but also those who have worked there or are still working there saying, 'I don’t feel safe, I don’t feel supported, I don’t feel trained,'" Hutson said.
"Look, my opponent is out of touch and has no experience whatsoever," Gusman said. "I'm focused on real change and real progressiveness and we've done that. When I was elected we had cages we were keeping people in. We now have a modern, direct run supervision jail."
The runoff election is December 11.