After years of legal battles, construction of a controversial 89-bed mental health wing at the Orleans Parish jail, with the site’s yellow construction booms visible from the Interstate, is about halfway complete.

Despite minor building delays, the facility is scheduled to open in July 2026.

However, court papers filed by Sheriff Susan Hutson last week suggest that the project may have yet another uphill climb. The court action comes amid a competitive sheriff’s race as Hutson faces reelection.

Hutson said her already understaffed office would need to add at least 43 deputies to operate the so-called Phase III building, according to correspondence filed in the jail’s federal consent decree, the decade-old legal settlement that mandates reforms.

McDonnel Construction Services is erecting the two-story building that will include two housing units, a clinic, infirmary, laundry room and visitation rooms. Phase III will adjoin the main jail site on Perdido Street near Tulane Avenue, not far from I-10.

Ideally for the building’s security, the department should add closer to 80 deputies, Hutson said. The sheriff opposes Phase III and spent much of her first term fighting the project in court.

It wasn’t immediately clear when Hutson would make any new hires, or how the Sheriff’s Office would pay for them, only that “a hiring and pay plan is being established,” she wrote in court papers.

Cost to taxpayers

To construct the new jail facility, the city awarded an $88.7 million contract to McDonnel in 2023 and has since authorized $3.1 million in change orders, according to Leatrice Dupré, a spokesperson for Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

Officials say they have $39 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency earmarked for the project, leftover funds meant to help the city rebuild its jail after Hurricane Katrina. Another $26.7 million was set aside after the city sold a millions in bonds in 2021.

But it’s unclear where the remaining money — at least $24 million — will come from. Cantrell’s office did not answer questions about the balance.

“The city has had zero conversations with us about more funding needed,” said New Orleans City Council member Joe Giarrusso, the council’s budget chair. 

The long-debated Phase III is sure to be a priority for whoever wins this November’s election for sheriff, which already includes two challengers and another major potential candidate lurking.

Should someone unseat Hutson, Phase III would be scheduled to open just a few months after their inauguration next year.

Old debates

City officials agreed to build Phase III in 2013 as part of the jail’s consent decree reforms.

At the time, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration was at odds with then-Sheriff Marlin Gusman. Gusman had failed to follow an ordinance requiring that reconstruction of the jail, now called the Orleans Parish Justice Center, include space to house mentally ill inmates, a misstep that Landrieu called “outrageous.”

Gusman then proposed a version of Phase III that had as many as 700 beds, while Landrieu favored a facility with closer to 100 beds. 

Though the two parties never came to terms on the building’s size, Landrieu’s administration ultimately agreed to Phase III’s construction, calling it a more efficient solution than trying to retrofit the jail’s existing facilities.

In 2017, a compliance director appointed by the courts drafted the 89 bed scaled-down version that remains the project’s blueprint.

After Cantrell was elected in 2018, her administration also changed course. She wanted the city to again consider renovating the jail’s existing facilities and asked the court’s permission to explore alternatives to Phase III.

The project was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hutson’s opposition

Then in a stunning 2021 upset, Hutson defeated Gusman after running a campaign centered around her criticisms of Phase III. She has argued the project is expensive, unneeded and goes against her goal of decreasing the jail’s population, particularly mentally ill inmates.

However, Hutson’s legal attempts to block the project fell short, after a federal judge ordered construction in 2021 and Hutson’s appeal was denied in 2023.

Hutson said last week her position on the project hasn’t changed.

“The Sheriff has consistently maintained that a jail is not the best place to house individuals with severe mental health needs,” said spokesperson Casey McGee.

Michelle Woodfork, a former New Orleans police chief who announced her candidacy for sheriff last week, said she supported Phase III at her campaign launch event. “I don’t have a problem with Phase III,” she said. “We actually need it.”

Asked to elaborate later, her campaign released a statement that struck a similar tone to Hutson’s concerns.

“I agree with many community members and leaders who say this was not the best way to meet the mental health challenges we face in the city and I understand the fears many have that the construction of more beds could lead to a consistent surge in incarceration in our city that is not necessary,” Woodfork said.

A crowded jail

The jail’s population has hovered above 1,400 inmates since last summer, well exceeding a 1,250-inmate cap previously set by the New Orleans City Council. It’s not clear exactly how many current inmates would require special care in the new jail wing.

“A lot of time and money has been wasted fighting something that was ordered years ago,” said Edwin Shorty, the 2nd City Constable in Algiers who said he’s also running for sheriff.

Shorty, a bankruptcy and personal injury attorney, noted that when a federal judge ordered Phase III to be built in 2021, the project had the support of a few key players. That includes federal monitors and attorneys from the MacArthur Justice Center, who represent the plaintiffs in the consent decree.

Gusman, who was sheriff from 2004 to 2022, was a defendant in the 2012 lawsuit brought by a group of 10 inmates, which eventually led to the U.S. Department of Justice’s intervention and the consent decree.

Among the many allegations, Gusman was accused of overseeing a jail where mentally ill inmates languished without treatment and were vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.

Will Gusman, who will be 70 years old in November, add his name to the list of contenders in the sheriff’s race? Reached for comment, Gusman would only say that he’s “seriously considering” it.

More deputies 

The sheriff’s department had planned on staffing Phase III by transferring the deputies who now staff the jail’s temporary detention center.

Court papers filed last week were the first indication that staffing would have to increase significantly, even double.

“Our recruitment efforts are ongoing, and we are confident in our ability to bring in the necessary personnel in time for the scheduled opening next July,” McGee said.

McGee said the additional salaries would have to be approved by the City Council. Budget documents show the additions would likely increase OPSO’s $58 million annual allocation by 3% to 5%.

The council rejected Hutson’s sizable requests for more money the last two budget sessions, most recently turning down a roughly 37% increase last year. Hutson has said she needs the money in large part to hire more people.

It’s too early to say how the council will receive her latest request.

“We are working closely with city leadership to ensure we have the resources needed to meet this requirement,” McGee said.

Council member Oliver Thomas, chair of the council’s criminal justice committee, and Giarrusso, the budget chair, both said Hutson hasn’t briefed them on her plans.