JUDGE GETS JAIL POLICY LAWSUIT

Release Without Bond at Center of Legal Action

A district judge today will hear a suit filed by City Marshal Nickey
Picard that seeks to stop the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office from
releasing without bonds those misdemeanor offenders who are charged
under state statutes, such as operating while intoxicated and
possession of marijuana.

Picard filed the suit after it became clear that the Sheriff's Office
would continue its new population management policy despite a recent
Louisiana attorney general's opinion that seems to question the practice.

"They're still releasing drunken drivers and violent offenders, like
aggravated assault with a weapon, which is in violation of the law,"
Picard said. In the suit, Picard states that the Sheriff's Office and
the jail are violating one state statute and six articles in the
state's code of criminal procedures.

Picard also said state statutes make it mandatory that bonds be
issued for someone with an OWI first and second offense.

District Judge Byron Hebert will rule over the suit.

The jail implemented the policy of booking and then releasing most
misdemeanor offenders on a court summons Dec. 1 as a way of reducing
the jail's population, which has been an ongoing issue for several years.

The Sheriff's Office declared a state of emergency in the jail and
implemented the measure under a state law that allows the jail to
seek relief from overcrowding if the inmate population remains higher
than its designated capacity for more than seven consecutive days.
Afterward, jail officials can release nonviolent municipal offenders.

Lafayette Parish Correctional Center Director Rob Reardon has stood
by the policy and has argued that the jail is formally booking
offenders before releasing them.

Reardon said the state fire marshal recently lowered the jail's
population limit to 914 inmates, with 754 inside the main jail. They
had been operating under an emergency population number prior to that.

"We're kind of in the middle of this whole thing," Reardon said. "We
have a police agency concerned about their issue and conversely we
have the fire marshal saying that (we) can only have so many inmates."

If they do not heed the fire marshal's order, that office could issue
an order to bring their population count back down, which means they
would have to release people, "and then we're in the same situation
as we are now."