[3][4] For much of her career, Hutson worked in police oversight in Los Angeles, California, and Austin, Texas.
[11] A progressive, she focused her campaign on criminal justice reform and advocated against plans to expand the Orleans Parish jail.
[18] In August 2022, inmates at the Orleans Parish jail barricaded themselves inside a pod and demanded better conditions, including better food and medicine, more adequate entertainment, and a washer and dryer.
[19] After multiple days, a sprinkler system was activated inside the pod, and Hutson instructed personnel to break in, ending the standoff.
[21] In April 2023, Hutson proposed a ballot measure that would have generated $11.7 million a year for the sheriff’s office by increasing property taxes.
[24] The report stated that despite cooperation from Hutson, conditions did not improve, with drug smuggling and frequent violence among inmates.
[29] One of the officials, CFO David Trautenberg, claimed in a lawsuit that he was fired for opening an internal financial investigation into alleged "misuse of public funds".