by David Reutter

With $118 million in federal funds, Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish built a state-of-the-art 871 bed jail. However, the Parish lacks the money to operate it or the prisoners to fill it.

The jail was built on the plans of former Sheriff Jeff Hingle, who is in federal prison for accepting kickback bribes from the jail's contract manager, to profit from housing state and federal prisoners. Both plans have fallen through.

With only about 70 prisoners, Plaquemines Parish is unable to fill but a portion of the new jail.  Currently, the Parish's prisoners are being housed in Orleans Parish Prison, which is under federal oversight.

The jail has an enviable view of the Mississippi River and it has not gone unnoticed by residents. “There are two sides to every story,” said resident Byron Encalade. “Do you open it up and lose money or let it sit and not? It's a budgeting issue.”

It is also a headache the new Parish Council will have to confront. “They will have to address it,” said outgoing Councilman Burghart Turner. “I do believe that they will have to sit down and look at it, what to do with the prison, what has to happen and how to move forward.”

The jail has enough space to house four percent of the Parish's 23,550 residents. Sheriff Connie Greco urged caution in any move made in filling the jail with prisoners. “The thing is you've got to be very careful about what you accept,” he said. “You'd have to show me the numbers because I'm not going to go into the [financial] hole for anybody.”

A humanitarian move that has yet to be explored would be to open the jail as a rehabilitation center or a center for the area's homeless.

Sources: wdsu.com, theadvocate.com