By Violet Bucaro
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
NEW ORLEANS — Facing steep budget cuts, New Orleans elected officials and agency heads pointed to the city’s swollen jail complex as a prime target for cost savings this week in City Council budget hearings.
In asking for a budget increase, Sheriff Michelle Woodfork also said a hiring drought will delay the opening of a controversial, $92 million mental health wing known as “Phase III” until next year.
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Woodfork is asking for a 12% increase for next year’s operations, and Mayor Helena Moreno’s proposed budget accommodates the request with $58 million from the city, including $25 million for the jail’s private medical provider.
The city’s jail complex housed 1,430 inmates on Wednesday, far above a soft municipal cap of 1,250. The Orleans Justice Center, the lockup built a decade ago, has a capacity of 1,438 beds.
“We are just bursting at the seams,” Woodfork said.
Woodfork, who took office in May, said her office might be able to operate within its current budget if the jail population fell to 1,000, a figure it has surpassed since 2022.
“To bring down our population, again, it takes the cooperation of all of our criminal justice partners,” Woodfork said. “They need to move a little bit quicker.”
Her appeal came as officials with the criminal court, district attorney’s office and several council members highlighted the potential savings in a leaner lockup as Moreno’s administration looks to trim a $77 million deficit.
“One of the things I think I am going to ask all of the agencies here before us, today and tomorrow, is how do we get the jail population down?” Council member Lesli Harris said at the start of Wednesday’s budget hearing.
The Sheriff’s Office reported an annual budget of $68.8 million, a $17 million increase from 2026, including added medical costs for the Phase III facility.
Woodfork said the jail population included 254 state inmates awaiting transfers to other facilities, or waiting to be processed for probation or parole.
A state corrections spokesperson did not respond to a request for information about the Orleans Parish population.
“New Orleans has become a dumping ground for the state to send certain people here so that we have to deal with them,” City Council President JP Morrell said Wednesday. “We are stuck holding people that are not our obligations and that are keeping our jail above its number, which in turn is additional costs for the people of the city of New Orleans.”
The state pays $29 per inmate per day, a fraction of the $160 cost to house them, according to Woodfork.
The reduction of the Criminal District Court bench on Jan. 1 from 12 judges to nine, under legislation signed by Gov. Jeff Landry , has raised concerns about delays.
Staffing shortages and low recruitment have also affected jail operations, the sheriff said. Woodfork said she and others on her executive team have been filling shifts at the jail. She told council member Matthew Willard that 40% of budgeted positions are open.
Phase III opening in doubt
Woodfork said the low staffing is affecting plans to launch a controversial and long-awaited medical and mental health wing known as “Phase III.” Scheduled to open next month, it’s a key component for the sheriff’s office to comply with a long-running jail reform agreement overseen by a federal judge.
Woodfork said more employees are vital to a plan to move out of a facility known as the Temporary Detention Center . Built in 2012, the warehouse-style detention center was slated to close in 2017 once the new jail was built. In 2019, however, male inmates with mental health needs moved in.
Steve Nelson , Moreno’s deputy chief administrative officer for infrastructure, has proposed creating a new low-barrier homeless shelter there once it’s empty.
“If we do not bring down the jail population, it’s gonna be very difficult for us to close a temporary detention center and move into Phase III,” Woodfork said.
Morrell said that the additional employees would cost $1.2 million and could be ordered by the court if the new wing can’t operate safely.
Woodfork said she now expects Phase III to open early next year.
Few expected to be spared cuts
The Sheriff’s Office was one of the several agencies and city departments that pleaded to minimize pending budget cuts last week before the council.
District Attorney Jason Williams’ office is facing a cut in city funding from $8.4 million to $6.9 million, on top of state reductions. Williams said it could result in “a near shutdown” of programs and divisions.
“A sustained reduction in jail population will not only help lower operating costs and reduce the pressure for additional jail capacity, it will support the city’s effort to achieve compliance with its stated goals,” Williams said. “The choice is whether we invest in moving cases efficiently or paying for the consequences of that delay.”
Williams said slashes to the DA’s homicide, special victims, adult diversion, investigations and victim advocacy units would not be enough.
“We still did not get close to the proposed reduction,” he said.
While crime in New Orleans has fallen steeply since 2022, arrests have risen, largely thanks to technology and a dedicated Louisiana State Police troop, according to a recent report from the watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission .
The criminal court’s chief judge, Magistrate Judge Juana Marine Lombard, asked the council to restore funding to a court slated for a 33% cut. Lombard said the court has exhausted $3.5 million in available cash and streamlined salaries, positions and resources.
Criminal District Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier said the lost funds would make it harder to meet constitutional demands, and jail overflow could increase.
“That means more lawsuits, that means more overcrowding in the jails, which will then cost the city an extreme amount of money to house people in custody and then also to transport people to other facilities,” she said.
This year, the court faces a $4.2 million deficit. Harris told court staff that the council won’t bridge the whole gap, as she pressed for ways to shrink the jail rolls.
Lombard pointed to the loss of three judges and a new state law that requires holding some people on bonds for longer as stiff obstacles.
“Without the programs that the court has, I don’t see any way that we can ensure any continued reductions,” Lombard said.
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