EDITORIAL: MDOC Transparency and Execution Secrecy Don’t Mix
Jim Craig, a lawyer for the New Orleans-based Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, filed an open-records request in November seeking information about Mississippi's execution drugs and...
View ArticleJudge orders release of execution drug supplier’s name
JACKSON – A judge has rejected the Mississippi Department of Corrections’ attempt to keep secret the pharmacy that supplies a crucial execution drug.
View ArticleSheriff Marlin Gusman won't turn over jail records, Justice Department,...
Sheriff Marlin Gusman has refused to turn over more than 1,000 reports on violent incidents inside the Orleans Parish Prison, according to a court filing Monday by lawyers for the U.S. Department of...
View ArticleMississippi fights to keep execution drug supplier secret
Attorney General Jim Hood has asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to keep secret the identity of the state's execution drug supplier while he appeals a state judge's order that the name be...
View ArticleLawsuit Challenges Mississippi’s Use of Compounded Drugs in Executions
JACKSON, Miss. — The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center at New Orleans has filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections challenging the use of compounded drugs in...
View ArticleSuit says Mississippi lethal injection unconstitutional
JACKSON — Two Mississippi prisoners condemned to death are challenging the legality of the state's lethal injection procedures.Read full article »
View ArticlePrisoners Seek Injunction to Block Use of Compounded Lethal Injection Drug in...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 3, 2015Prisoners Seek Injunction to Block Use of CompoundedLethal Injection Drug in MississippiJACKSON, Miss. – Two Mississippi death-sentenced prisoners have asked a...
View ArticleCaddo Parish African-Americans removed from jury service at three times the...
SHREVEPORT, La. -- A Reprieve Australia study in one Louisiana Parish has found that African-American jurors are over three times more likely than their white counterparts to be struck from jurry...
View ArticleJudge orders temporary halt to Mississippi execution
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the state of Mississippi from carrying out executions.Read full article »
View ArticleJudge orders temporary halt to Mississippi Executions
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the state of Mississippi from using two drugs in executions, shutting down the death penalty in the state for now.Read full article »
View ArticleFederal Court Asked to End Practice of Jailing People Too Poor to Pay the...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 26, 2015Federal Court Asked to End Practice of Jailing PeopleToo Poor to Pay the Bond Set for Minor OffensesImpoverished drivers with traffic charges can spend days in jail...
View ArticleJudge delays execution of man who murdered Metairie-raised woman in...
A man on death row in Mississippi for the 1976 murder of a Metairie-raised woman should not be executed until it is determined whether the state’s lethal-injection drug combination is constitutional, a...
View ArticleLAWSUIT SEEKS END TO RACE-BASED JURY SELECTION IN CADDO PARISH, LA
Lawsuit Seeks End to Race-Based Jury Selection in Caddo Parish, LASHREVEPORT, La. – A class action lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office has intentionally and...
View ArticleOPP Consent Decree Plaintiffs Support City’s Legal Filings to Remove State...
Plaintiffs Cite Ongoing Unconstitutional Conditions, Harm to Prisoners and StaffLawyers representing prisoners in Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) today filed briefing opposing Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s...
View ArticleAttorneys for Condemned Prisoners Vow Continued Fight After Appeals Court...
NEW ORLEANS -- Today, the United States Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Jordan v. Fisher, the Federal lawsuit filed by the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center against officials of the...
View ArticleAttorney for New Orleans Prisoners Reacts to Resignation of Chief of Corrections
NEW ORLEANS – Katie M. Schwartzmann, Co-Director of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center in New Orleans, released the following statement in reaction to the resignation of Carmen I....
View ArticleOrleans Parish corrections chief resigns; 2nd to do so since December 2014
Carmen DeSadier has resigned as the corrections chief for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, the Sheriff Marlin Gusman's office announced Friday (Feb. 19). DeSadier is the second person in that...
View ArticleResignation adds to woes at New Orleans jail
An official hired to help with reforms at the violence-plagued New Orleans jail has resigned — the latest complication in court-ordered reform efforts.Read full article »
View ArticleRecent Monitors’ Report Confirms Continued Failure to Improve Conditions in...
NEW ORLEANS - In April 2012 the men, women, and kids in Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) sued the Sheriff to improve conditions in the jail. That lawsuit was filed to stop rampant rapes, beatings and...
View ArticleFederal Court Asked to Strike Down Law Creating Unconstitutional Conflict of...
BATON ROUGE, La. – A federal class action lawsuit has been filed challenging a state law mandating “conviction fees” as the revenue source for the salaries of the judge and support staff in Ascension...
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