In 1895, The Times-Picayune described Orleans Parish Prison as: "the place where refractory slaves were sent to receive a dose of cat o'nine tails, or to be confined in the dungeons in extreme cases the rebellious blacks were kept dark cells on a diet of bread and water.

The Orleans Parish Prison has had tremendous problems for a long time, mostly caused by lack of mentoring of the inmates by deputies.

[7] Guards rarely patrolled the House of Detention, one of several buildings comprising the Orleans Parish Prison complex.

[8] On August 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina–an extremely destructive and deadly category 5 hurricane–struck the Gulf Coast, the staff of Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office abandoned the jail, leaving roughly 650 prisoners in their cells with no access to food, water, or ventilation for days.

[13][14][15] The Federal Emergency Management Agency dedicated $223 million to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office for restoration of its facilities following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

[19] The Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition opposes the plan,[20] calling on former Democratic Mayor Mitch Landrieu's office to "oppose any options involving the expansion of the jail," and instead support "retrofitting of the current jail to better care for incarcerated special populations.

The 10 to 12 adult women onboard the Golden Venture vessel from China that washed ashore in the Rockaways in New York City in June 1993 were kept at Orleans Parish Prison for a few years.

[28] On November 29, 2015, state Senator Troy E. Brown of Ascension Parish was booked in the Orleans Parish Prison for domestic abuse battery, a misdemeanor stemming from an incident with his alleged long-term paramour, a woman from Labadieville, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.