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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
S u n d ay, S e p t e m b e r 21, 2025
$2.50X
Sinking into the Gulf
Thousands of old oil wells, many unplugged and leaking, pock state’s disappearing coast BY ALEX LUBBEN | Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Patrick Cochran, director of inmate programming at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, left, and council member Darryl Hurst walk down a cellblock together on Wednesday. Conditions at the prison have long raised concerns about humaneness. But now, the burden to taxpayers is surging with no solution in sight.
BR JAIL COSTS HIT TAXPAYERS HARD
Mikeal Berthelot Jr. was navigating the mouth of the Mississippi River in his shrimp boat, a stretch of water he’d traversed many times before. The water was calm. The sun beat down. His deckhand was making a peanut butter sandwich. Then the boat slammed into something they couldn’t see. The crash threw Berthelot forward. As he grasped for support, his hand shattered a glass pane in front of the steering wheel. “My boat is stuck on something,” he told his father over the phone. “It went through the bottom of the hull.” Within minutes, the engine room filled with water. Within an hour, the boat had sunk. Berthelot didn’t know it at the time, but he had struck an old oil well, drilled more than a halfcentury ago. Back then, the site was surrounded by marsh. Today, it’s in navigable open water. There are thousands more like it. An analysis by The Times-Picayune and The Advocate, independently reviewed by researchers at Tulane
ä See SINKING, page 4A
Rusted bars, crumbling sewers, rats threaten inmate, officer safety BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER | Staff writer Each month, East Baton Rouge Parish taxpayers spend $368,000 to send inmates to prisons in other parishes, almost four times the $96,000 they spent just six years ago. While the COVID-19 crime spike and new laws have played a role, many parish officials say the main problem is simple: The nearly 60-year-old parish prison is falling apart. Rusted bars and ceilings, crumbling sewage pipes and long-obsolete parts often fail, taking sections — sometimes entire wings — out of commission and leaving the jail with too few beds.
keep what beds open that it can. Some leaders now question whether the constant patchwork repairs are wasting taxpayer dollars. They wonder if building a new prison — with enough beds and a better setup for rehabilitation — might save money in the long run. But those officials face the same problem as someone who would rathbuy a new car than keep shelling A leak in the ceiling at the East Baton er out for repairs: Where are they going Rouge Parish Prison has stained the to get that much money all at once? floor of a walkway in front of a day Throughout any of the jail’s wings, long ceiling cracks — some stretcharea for inmates. ing nearly 20 feet — are a common On top of sending inmates else- sight. They’re more than just signs where, in recent years the parish has ä See JAIL, page 10A spent millions annually on repairs to
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Damaged equipment sticks out of the water near oil wells and platforms south of Venice on June 5. Thousands of old oil wells drilled on land now sit in open water off Louisiana, threatening boats, leaking oil and leaving taxpayers with the cleanup bill.
Closed party primaries could limit ballots in Louisiana Nominating petition required for non-major party candidates in 2026 BY ALYSE PFEIL | Staff writer
That’s because, under new rules for Louisiana’s closed party primaVoters may find the list of can- ry races that begin in April, candidates is much shorter than in didates for U.S. House and Senate years past when casting a ballot who aren’t Democrats or Republiin the 2026 midterm elections next cans have more work to do to get November. on the November ballot.
WEATHER HIGH 92 LOW 71 PAGE 8B
cy form and paying the qualifying fee for the race. It’s $3,500 for the Senate and $1,500 for the House. All other candidates for those ELECTION 2026 races — for example, unaffiliated “no party” candidates, Green Party members and Libertarians Democratic and Republican can- — are required to qualify through didates can sign up to run for office the state’s little-used nominating in January by filling out a candida- petition process.
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Classified ..................... 1F Living............................1D Nation-World................2A Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
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To qualify by nominating petition, a candidate goes out and collects handwritten signatures and identifying information from a required number of voters. Senate candidates need at least 2,500 signatures, with 250 of those coming from each congressional
ä See PRIMARIES, page 11A
101ST yEAR, NO. 83
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