AMITE CITY, La. (WVUE) — Following multiple Fox 8 investigations into failures at the Tangipahoa Parish jail, we’re getting a rare look inside the facility through video released by the new parish sheriff.
Gerald Sticker is pledging to turn around a jail facility that has had glaring problems. Sticker was sworn in as sheriff on July 1, and reforming the jail appears to be one of his top priorities. Within days of taking office, Sticker and other officials went into the jail to assess what needs to be done to improve its operations.
The video shows Sticker walking through the Tangipahoa Parish jail with officials from local government and the Louisiana Department of Corrections. Everyone on that tour knew the jail had issues, including several inmate escapes since February. Sticker said their focus was to find a path toward a more secure jail.
“They brought solutions and not just problems,” Sticker said. “We talked about the technology aspect. We talked about the human part of it. The manpower issues, where the shortfalls were.”
Sticker inherited those issues from his predecessor, former Sheriff Daniel Edwards. In a recent interview with Fox 8′s Chris Joseph, Sticker cited several areas of deficiencies at the jail. Sticker said there was a systemic breakdown of supervision.
“It was just a comedy of errors,” Sticker told Fox 8 on July 2.
Those errors included four inmates escaping in May. Deputies at the jail only became aware of the escapes after a member of the public called about the situation. Three of the inmates have been recaptured, but Jamarcus Cyprian remains on the loose. According to Sticker, Cyprian escaped the jail 10 days before the previous administration reported Cyprian missing.
One of the other inmates had previously escaped in February, and used the same escape route to break back into the jail. Sticker says under his watch, the jail will be more secure.
“Over 2 1/2 miles of razor wire has been strung and we’re continuing to string it,” Sticker says in the video. “(We’re) waiting on another shipment, and so hopefully by the end of the week those security issues that affect the border, the perimeter of this facility, will have been addressed, so we can hopefully put that behind us.”
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The jail has been troubled for years.
Back in 2017, Tommy Joe Smith was beaten to death within hours of being booked into the parish jail. Smith was in for a probation violation as a sex offender. At the time, Edwards’ office described the attack as a “shark feeding frenzy.” In the aftermath, 11 prisoners were charged with second-degree murder and Smith’s family sued the sheriff’s office for a list of complaints, including failure to separate him from the general jail population.
Other lawsuits have centered around overcrowding and a lack of adequate staffing and security at the jail. With that as a backdrop, Sticker says foundational changes are needed and will come.
“The big thing that I’ve seen over the past six months is just a change in the culture of the jail,” Sticker said. “It’s more upbeat. It’s clean. And I’ve said it before, you can be poor and still have a clean house. This is an old facility, but a solid facility.”
In his tour with corrections officials, Sticker said they discussed how technology could be used to improve jail security. But there could be straightforward options, what Sheriff Sticker referred to as “primitive stuff.” Those include a clock system to make sure deputies are physically present and routinely making headcounts of inmates.
Edwards has not responded to several interview requests from Fox 8.
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