The Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office overcharged the city of New Orleans almost $2 million for inmates who actually were in the custody of the federal government and were already being paid for by the U.S. Marshal’s Service or Immigration and Custom Enforcement, Sheriff Marlin Gusman acknowledged Wednesday.
The Sheriff’s Office said it refunded the money Wednesday.
The double billing began after Hurricane Katrina, in November 2005, when Gusman began booking federal inmates brought into Orleans Parish Prison at Central Lockup, the same place as anyone else arrested in New Orleans, said Renee Lapeyrolerie, a spokeswoman for Gusman. The disclosure marks the second major double-billing problem Gusman has acknowledged this month. He blamed both on problems with the computerized inventory of the inmates housed at the city’s jail facilities.
Before the storm destroyed many of the jail buildings, the Sheriff’s Office maintained separate booking and billing programs for federal and city inmates.
Former New Orleans City Councilman, Oliver Thomas, received a 37 month prison term, today, for receiving a bribe from convicted political operative Stan “Pampy” Barre.