A Federal Judge Assigns a New Lead Monitor at the Embattled New Orleans Jail
In November 17, 2017, news, U.S. District Judge Lance Africk replaced the lead jail monitor at the Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans, Louisiana. The embattled New Orleans jail was sued by a group of prisoners and has been under federal watch, headed by Africk. Susan McCampbell is being replaced with Margo Frasier as the lead monitor. Sixty-four-year-old Frasier was the first ever female sheriff in Texas, when she was elected to the job in the Travis County Sheriff’s Office in 1997. Sources say the change is being made at McCampbell’s request and that she will still be part of the monitoring team, filling Frasier’s former role as a correctional practice and administrative monitor. Concerns are far from being put to rest with regard to the problems that initiated federal oversight, especially since two prisoners died within three days of one another in early November 2017.
Thirty-two-year-old Narada Mealey suffered a cardiac arrest while incarcerated at New Orleans jail. Mealey was transferred to University Medical Center and was on life support but died on Thursday, November 2.
On Saturday, November 5, 27-year-old Evan Sullivan was found unresponsive in his cell. An on-site medical evaluation was done, and he was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Sheriff’s Office said he died of natural causes.
Statistics show that prisoner-on-prisoner altercations and prisoner-on-staff altercations have shown little to no improvement over the course of the monitoring period, when comparing beginning with current statistics.
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