The Latest: Sheriff plans fight over control of Orleans jail

NEW ORLEANS – The Latest on efforts by the Justice Department and inmate advocates to have an outside administrator take over control of the violence-plagued jail in New Orleans (all times local):

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5:30 p.m.

The man who runs the New Orleans jail says he’ll fight an effort to have a federal court appoint an outside party to manage the long-troubled lockup.

Sheriff Marlin Gusman said Monday that his office is making “substantial strides” toward compliance with a reform agreement approved by the court in 2013.

The U.S. Justice Department and lawyers for inmates filed a motion Monday morning asking the court to hold Gusman in contempt and to appoint a third party to run the jail.

In a brief news release, Gusman said the motion contains numerous inaccuracies and misleading statements.

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2 p.m.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s office issued a brief and subdued response to the latest court filing in a years-long effort to reform the city’s jail.

The Justice Department and lawyers for inmates asked a federal judge Monday to have a third party take over operations of the jail from Sheriff Marlin Gusman.

Landrieu’s administration had urged such action in 2013, when Landrieu and Gusman were feuding publicly over jail operations. The judge declined to order the takeover then.

On Monday, Landrieu’s office issued a news release saying the latest court filing speaks for itself, and that a competently run jail is in the best interest of taxpayers and the public.

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10:30 a.m.

The Justice Department has asked a federal court to appoint an outside administrator to operate the long-troubled New Orleans jail.

Sheriff Marlin Gusman has struggled to comply with reform requirements called for in a 2012 agreement he entered with the Justice Department and lawyers for inmates to settle a federal lawsuit over jail conditions.

Inmates were moved to a modern new facility last September. But a court-appointed monitor says violence continues to be a problem. And a recent inmate suicide brought renewed attention to the jail’s troubles.

The federal government made the request in a court filing Monday.