There’s a new sheriff in Louisiana, and she’s a Black woman.  

New Orleans voters recently elected Susan Hutson as the first Black female sheriff in the state. She received 53% of the votes, beating out four-term incumbent Marlin Gusman.  

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After her success, Hutson said, “I am so proud of humbled to call myself your next sheriff. A huge thank you to all of our campaign staff, our community organizers, the religious community, nonprofits, neighbors and friends.” Hutson sat down with BNC to discuss her plans for a culture change within the agency ahead of her term, which begins in May.  

She spent nearly a decade as the independent police monitor for the department. Now, she’s preparing to step into her leadership role. Hutson’s main responsibility as sheriff will be to oversee the Orleans Parish jail.  

She said reform would start from inside the walls of the jail with both incarcerated individuals and deputies. “The jail is not safe. It’s not a safe space,” she said. “We got to make it a safe space. We’ve got to know why people act out. We have to use less violence from those who work there, deescalate, treat people and help people.”  

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Hutson ran as a progressive with promises to end excessive use of force from officers, something that has been a problem nationwide. “There’s the bigger picture, which is the culture change. You have a department that, has been for the last eight years, not doing well,” she said. “It was brought under federal control. They’ve been advised they weren’t constitutionally giving people care.”  

She also plans to make sure those incarcerated at the facility get help and resources to cut down on inmates being released and then returning to jail. For her, that starts with putting an end to solitary confinement. “We’re not going to hold people in solitary confinement. That sensory deprivation is mentally and physically damaging to them,” Hutson said. “And then we’re going to expect them to go back out on the street and be normal. They’re not and so everything that we’re going to be doing is towards making people better.”  

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Hutson understands her historic appointment comes with great responsibility and she said she is ready for the challenge.  

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