Video Playlist

New Orleans Tricentennial Visions of Justice

What should justice look like in New Orleans for the next three hundred years?

The criminal justice system in New Orleans absorbs the lion’s share of the city’s operating budget. With new and renewed leadership in this important year in our city’s history, it is time to dig deep into what it means to build a system that delivers on the promise of fairness, justice, and safety for all New Orleaninans.

At the tricentennial we are asking: How will our city envision criminal justice reform in this historic moment? In these short videos, New Orleans community leaders discuss key findings from Vera’s research and share their visions for the future.

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Second Look Laws Are Passing—When Advocates Frame Them as Righting a Wrong

Second look laws are gaining momentum as advocates reframe them as a way to right past harms.

Second look laws offer a second chance to revisit long prison sentences that no longer serve public safety and recognize that people can change and evolve during their time in prison. Read on to learn how advocates in four states advanced second look sentencing reform by pairing evidence with values-driven narratives that helped overcome political ...

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February 13, 2026
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Reopening the Plantation: Immigration Detention in Louisiana’s Angola Prison

Holding immigrants in a notorious solitary confinement unit is just part of a broader partnership between ICE and the state to expand mass incarceration.

Detained for 23 hours per day in a dirty prison cell. Held without access to medical care or necessary prescription medications. Locked up, far from home, with limited ability to communicate with lawyers or family members. These are the stories shared by men currently detained at Camp J, a unit that was closed in 2018 due to safety and ...

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January 30, 2026
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