Louisiana ACLU Asks Department of Justice to Investigate Jails

The American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm of Wilson Sonsini have released a letter sent to the United States Department of Justice asking them to investigate access practices of jail when it comes to attornies having access to their clients.

According to the ACLU's letter, representatives of their agency and members of the Sonsini law firm talked to people in the public defender offices in Lafayette, Evangeline, Calcasieu, Beauregard, East Baton Rouge, and Orleans.

They had plenty of instances in which they say there were practices that either was in violation of attorney/client privilege and privacy.

In the letter sent to the Justice Department, Lafayette was only mentioned specifically once and it has to do with attire that a female attorney was wearing when going to visit a client at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.

According to the public defender they spoke to, the woman was coming from the courthouse to visit the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center and because she was wearing a skirt she was denied access to her client.

We have reached out to Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber's Office to ask for a statement regarding everything detailed in the ten-page letter. While the attire question is the only specific complaint regarding LPCC there are other pages of the letter listing instances, but they do not list what facility the alleged violations occurred in.

In the letter, officials give multiple instances of clients having to have a Zoom call or other computer call in front of at least one deputy. This alleged violation is not specifically described as having happened in LPCC, but there are several instances not of alleged violations that have no parish mentioned.

You can click here to read the entire letter.

Armed Robberies Across Acadiana in 2022

Of the crimes that have headlined 2022, armed robberies have been among the most prevalent.

Armed robberies - as they become more prevalent in a community - steal peace from the citizens who live there. These crimes may start out as a thief trying to steal from the victim but many times that thief turns into a murderer when that weapon is actually used.

Let's take a look at headline-catching cases involving armed robbery in 2022.

List of Homicides and Deaths in Acadiana for 2022

There have been multiple homicides in Acadiana for 2022. The following is a list, by parish, of each of the homicides and deaths that have happened so far this year. It is astounding the number of deaths in our area this year. Multiple deaths due to shootings have happened this year along with several hit-and-run deaths.