By Missy Wilkinson
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
NEW ORLEANS — Three people jailed at the Orleans Justice Center were rebooked after allegedly attacking a sheriff’s deputy who intervened in a stabbing on Wednesday afternoon, according to court documents.
Kenshawn King, 39, stabbed an inmate multiple times at around 4:36 p.m. Wednesday, then attacked a deputy who took the weapon, according to Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Casey McGee.
Two other inmates allegedly piled on the deputy, according to arrest warrant records. Police said Corey Coleman, 29, pushed the deputy, and Alfred C. Simmons, 48, jumped on his back. The deputy cut his hand on the piece of metal when he took it from King, but is doing “fine,” McGee said.
King was rebooked on counts of aggravated battery and battery of a correctional officer. He was originally jailed on counts of armed robbery, second-degree battery, aggravated second-degree battery and aggravated assault with a firearm. Coleman and Simmons, who were each jailed on second-degree murder charges, among others, were rebooked after the jail fracas, each on one count each of battery of a correctional officer.
At a Monday morning budget hearing, Sheriff Susan Hutson told City Council members that residents of the jail are dismantling it piecemeal and using its metal features as weapons. McGee said that’s what happened Wednesday.
OPSO officials reported fewer incidents of inmate-on-inmate violence this year—around 250 incidents compared to around 350 last year—but said that more are resulting in injury.
“The residents are a more violent population, so the amount of injuries based on the number of incidents is increasing,” McGee said.
The jail’s population also has steadily risen, from a low of about 750 in 2021, according to a City Council dashboard. McGee said 454 of the jail’s current 1,238 inmates are incarcerated on aggravated charges.
Councilmember Joseph Giarrusso expressed concern at Monday’s budget hearing over the rising jail population, which hovers near a cap of 1,250 even as the sheriff’s office sits at 60% of full staffing. This time last year, the lockup housed around 990 inmates.
“I’m just flummoxed because we were at 990 in 2022,” Giarrusso said. “Obviously, staffing is an issue, and we want to provide adequate resources for staffing.”
Hutson requested a $13 million annual budget increase that would fund a pay raise for deputies, from $18 to $20 an hour, to bring them in line with the national average and boost retention and recruitment. She estimated the cost of that raise at $3.4 million. Hutson described the proposed increase as a boon for a workforce that is “punching above their weight” in managing the most violent criminal suspects.
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