This story appears in the May/June 2025 issue of ESSENCE, on newsstands April 24.
On a sunny Sunday during the Carnival season, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson is riding along the Krewe of Nefertiti parade route, shaking hands and giving mini sheriff badges to the children who run up to her. Community members offer warm hugs and proudly pose for photos with Hutson. Her bright smile, joyful demeanor and very presence challenge the idea of how someone in her position looks and acts.
The word “sheriff” can conjure images of a gunslinging cartoon character—or the oppressive law enforcement officer who was the subject of a classic Bob Marley song. Yet the sheriff of New Orleans is a 5′ 4″ Black woman who wears locs, holds a law degree and has a deep love for Star Wars movies. Sheriff Hutson is the first woman sheriff in the city—and the first and only Black female of the 64 sheriffs in the state of Louisiana. Being the “first” is not something she takes lightly; but she’s focused on her mission of reunifying Black families and stopping the generational cycles of incarceration that plague communities in NOLA.
Contrary to popular belief, the sheriff’s domain is not the streets; it’s typically the jail in Louisiana. Hutson’s job is to ensure the safety of the residents of the city’s lockup, Orleans Justice Center (OJC), where people charged with a crime are held before trial. In New Orleans, the jail assists in maintaining inmates’ mental health. Families cycle through—uncles and nephews, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters—as residents talk about the unhealed trauma of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, which separated families and communities. In a tough election, Sheriff Hutson ran on a vision of transformative justice that resonated with voters, in a place where Black folks are detained at five times the rate of Whites. She wants to make sure that once people leave the OJC, they don’t come back.
“When I consider that many people in jail are dealing with economic hardships, mental health challenges, addiction and trauma—often all at once—I believe it’s essential to address the root causes that led them there,” she says. “Transformative justice is about holding people accountable, but it’s also providing the support and resources necessary for people to heal, grow and build a better future.”
Hutson’s road to becoming sheriff was somewhat unconventional—and deeply personal. Her grandfather and great-uncle were both unarmed Black men killed by law enforcement in the Jim Crow era of 1940s East Texas. “There was no justice for them, and the officers who murdered them knew they could get away with it,” she says of the tragedies. “It scarred my family and, unwittingly, it guided my trajectory and led to my working within the criminal justice system.”
While many sheriffs start off as police officers, Sheriff Hutson began her career as a defense attorney, and then a prosecutor, in Texas. There, she says, “the criminal justice system often neglected people’s humanity. Our families, our loved ones, our community members were suffering—and once people became system-involved, it was difficult for many to get out and stay out.”
She subsequently spent 17 years as a police monitor in Austin, Texas, Los Angeles and New Orleans, ensuring that their police departments implemented and followed the Department of Justice’s federal consent decrees—legal agreements designed to correct unconstitutional and illegal treatment of a city’s residents. The onslaught of murders of unarmed Black men like Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and the advent of the Black Lives Matter Movement, inspired her to want to do even more.
“I saw how the community was trying to fix things, and I said, ‘I want to be a part of this,’” she recalls. “I had a chance to jump in here and do something big. I thought police monitoring was the work of my life—but this, what I’m doing now, is it. It’s the most rewarding work I could possibly do.”
Her predecessor, a 17-year incumbent, left the sheriff’s office shrouded in controversy. Sheriff Hutson points to the “glass cliff” phenomenon, in which women—particularly women of color—are more likely to be appointed to high-stakes leadership positions in times of crisis. She also claims her administration has faced disproportionate media scrutiny and attacks rooted in misogynoir, with multiple overlapping experiences of stereotyping and discrimination.
Yet in her three years in office, she has transformed the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO) and the OJC. She did it by improving access to mental health care, partnering with local community groups like Voice of the Experienced, registering residents to vote and providing opportunities for locals to get diplomas or learn job skills. As arts and culture are foundational to the city’s identity, it was also a priority to have homegrown stars like Big Freedia and rapper Mia X visit residents. The OPSO is now building an arts council of local musicians to do regular workshops, so those incarcerated will be tapped into a network when they are released.
Sheriff Hutson has prioritized reentry programming—such as SisterHearts, Inc., which focuses on decarceration. The founder, Maryam Henderson-Uloho, who is among the formerly incarcerated, has designed a curriculum to help residents heal from the trauma of being imprisoned and to prepare them for reintegration into the community. “She believed in my mission,” Henderson-Uloho says of the sheriff. “She believed in us taking accountability and responsibility to be the best versions of ourselves. She believed that, if given an opportunity, we could heal ourselves, and break the cycles of criminal mentality and the institutionalized mindset. Sheriff Hutson gave us the opportunity.” The program is now so popular that it has a long wait list.
Hutson’s leadership and trust in her team has also significantly reduced violence, through an experimental “honor pod.” Lieutenant Michael Lewis created this program, which centers mental health services like individual and group therapy, addiction support and conflict resolution. Lewis says that men in the honor pod talk with their families about changes they are making—and that people regularly call to thank him for his work. Due to its success, the program will be expanding to include more residents. “Whatever is going to make this place better, whatever will make residents comfortable and safe in this environment, Sheriff Hutson is all for it,” he says.
The sheriff has also focused on the wellness of her staff, the majority of whom are Black women. “Supporting sisters means the world to me,” she says. And you know she means it: She has increased the pay of deputies to a livable wage, paved a path for merit-based promotions, and offered mental health treatment and self-defense training.
Additionally, Sheriff Hutson is proud of the increased coordination with the victims’ advocate department and other city agencies that led to the recovery of 15 women and girls who were being trafficked during this year’s Super Bowl. Her office continues to bring in speakers on domestic violence and to offer gun-safety training; this tracks with her focus on safer communities overall, to reduce people’s entering jail in the first place. She is setting an example for the country as to what is possible when leaders address the root causes of incarceration with a human rights approach.
She attributes her tenacity and commitment to this work to God—but also to the stories she has heard, and still hears, from the people of New Orleans. “I keep a list of all of my campaign promises to the community and our employees,” Sheriff Hutson explains. “I continue to achieve them, despite setbacks and obstacles, because I always keep my eyes on my prize.”
