In one of America’s most troubled jails, a mental health unit has managed to thrive

By Antonia Hylton and Emily Berk, NBC

NEW ORLEANS — In June, 18-year-old Marvell Smith arrived at the Orleans Justice Center, anxious and overwhelmed, to await his day in trial in the notorious jail. Staff brought him up on an elevator to the fourth floor and placed him in a unit with more than four dozen other men. 

Almost immediately, another detainee began stalking Smith, he said, trying to physically and verbally intimidate him for being gay. 

For years, detainees say, harassment has been rampant at the jail, which has struggled since 2012 to comply with a consent decree by the Justice Department to monitor poor conditions, violence and abuse inside. But this time, the outcome was different. The man stalking Smith was quickly expelled from the unit by its leader, Lieutenant Michael Lewis. Had Lewis not taken action, nine other pre-trial detainees told NBC News, they would have demanded that the man leave. 

Smith’s experience is a reflection of the larger goals of a new mental health-focused community within the jail, designed to reverse years of violence and neglect, and build instead a sense of camaraderie. Smith said he was relieved Lewis took action to get rid of his harasser. “As my days go on, it’s getting like we’re all human, we’re all men,” he said.

Smith is among the first to experience this approach in the jail which officials in New Orleans are calling “the model pod for mental health.” Spearheaded by Sheriff Susan Hutson, who ran for office in 2022 promising to reform the jail and fight its further expansion, the program has a simple goal: treat pre-trial inmates more like patients who have experienced severe trauma and are deserving of community and health care. 

NBC has more details.

Educational institutions have also benefited from mental health programs.

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