Prisoners with Guns, Drugs, Gambling and Alcohol

Caught on camera: Obama Voters with Guns, drugs, beer and gambling in New Orleans prison.

Shocking video reveals prison inmates carrying guns, take drugs, drink beer and even hanging out in the city centre of New Orleans

Did these Prisoners bet on how many baskets Barry Obama would miss on the court?

Prisoners have been filmed drinking beer, using drugs and even brandishing a loaded handgun in shocking video footage taken at a New Orleans jail.
The film from Orleans Parish Prison was revealed on the second day of a federal hearing on plans to refurbish and improve the jail.
One expert told the court that the video showed the most dysfunctional prison regime he had seen

Manny Romero, a prison consultant said the nature of the contraband on show suggests prison staff may have brought it in for inmates, WDSU reports.

Lawyers for the local sheriff's department said the footage was filmed four years ago.
The film was shown to the court as part of a hearing to determine whether a federal consent decree is warranted to reform the jail, according to the New York Times. One of the videos even seems to show prisoners relaxing in the city's Bourbon Street at night.
The footage also showed prisoners injecting drugs with one even holding a loaded handgun - raising questions over how the contraband got into the jail.
Prisoners also complained about overcrowding in one of the videos with one inmate saying 'we need help New Orleans.'

Mayor Mitch Landrieu called the videos 'outrageous' and called on federal officials to put the jail into receivership, the New York Times reports.

A hearing to discuss financial issues is due to be held in May even if the consent decree is approved.
The United States Department of Justice found the jail to be riven with violence and even sexual assaults last year.
It brought a class suit action on behalf of inmates - together with the Southern Poverty Law Center - against Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman of Orleans Parish, who runs the jail, according to the Times.

An agreement to make changes to the jail was reached between the sides in December and, if ratified by a district judge, it would become a 'consent decree', and therefore legally binding - but the city is unhappy about picking up its part of the potential costs.