NEW ORLEANS (AP) - New Orleans’ embattled sheriff has made progress improving the city’s jail and should be allowed to keep his job, a group of local pastors said Tuesday.
Their press conference comes one day before a federal judge is set to hear arguments on whether he should appoint an outside party to run the long-troubled jail because Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman is not up to the job, a high-stakes maneuver in the long-running dispute over the jail.
But supporters say Gusman has greatly improved conditions and should be allowed to continue the progress.
“This process cannot be completed in a day or even a few months. It is our belief that Sheriff Gusman is going a great job, and we say let the progress continue,” said Rev. C.S. Gordon from the New Zion Baptist Church. He was one of about 30 pastors gathered outside the jail to support Gusman.
The Justice Department in April asked the court to replace Gusman, saying that new leadership was essential because Gusman for years has failed to improve conditions that endanger inmates.
Inmates were moved from aging, deteriorating jail buildings to a new, more modern facility last September - a move that Gusman said would greatly contribute to reform. But a court-appointed monitor said in March that violence continues to be a problem and a recent inmate suicide brought renewed attention to the jail’s troubles.
Gusman, a veteran of New Orleans politics, served on the City Council before he was first elected sheriff in 2004. He was elected to his third term in 2014 despite the jail’s notorious reputation for violence. He has likened the move to remove the jail from his control to a coup, and the pastors said it would be taking power away from the voters.
“If you take the jail away from him now, this would supersede the authority that the voters of New Orleans have placed within his hands by electing and re-electing him,” Gordon said.
The pastors said they would be at the court Wednesday for the hearing and called on community members to join them there for prayer. They also showed a stack of letters they said came from people around city supporting Gusman.
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