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: The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Do you want your tax dollars to build a 5,800 bed jail in New Orleans?

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS SPENT TO REBUILD OUR CITY? FACT: There are currently 3,500 inmates in the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), 2,700 of whom are ?city prisoners.? This represents the highest rate of detention of any urban jail in the country, and three times the national average. A jail in New Orleans that was aligned with the national detention rate would have approximately 850 beds. FACT: The Sheriff?s plans to rebuild OPP call for a 5,800-bed parish prison, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of people at OPP are in for non-violent, municipal, or traffic offenses that could be diverted, for a major cost-savings to the taxpayer and city government. FACT: While the cost to build the jail will fall mostly on FEMA, these funds could be spent on building other needed facilities, like substance abuse or mental health treatment centers...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on September 04, 2010 (boomark / email).