NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)  – The final witness for the U.S. Justice Department took the stand Monday in the legal fight over who will control the Orleans Parish Prison.

The U.S. Justice Department is trying to strip Sheriff Marlin Gusman of his authority over the jail, claiming he’s failed to comply with the 2013 consent decree.

Testifying Monday was consent decree monitor Brenda Frazier, who focused on jail safety and supervision. She relayed more horror stories from OPP. Many of the stories were too graphic and violent to share, detailing excessive force, brutal beatings and rapes.

The monitor told the court that deputies are using unnecessary and brutal force. Many of these incidents are not reported, and when they are, they’re sometimes done months later, and many of the facts are edited or left out, she said.

She recalled one incident that was reported as “justified”, but when she watched the video it showed a different story.

There was a fight between two inmates, and one of the deputies grabbed the aggressor by his throat, picked him up off the ground 16 to 18 inches – by the throat – and then body slammed him to the ground. Then she says he punched the inmate numerous times. After the inmate walked back towards his cell, the officer jacked the inmate up on the wall and another fight started.

She also said that the deputies don’t have any strict policies or procedures to follow, and often times just sit around, not directly supervising. When she asked them about how they were keeping people separated who had problems with each other, they’d give her a blank look.

Frazier also recalled an incident in which a deputy went on a lunch break and left an inexperienced, new, civilian worker watching over the cells. That’s when a 16-year-old inmate ran into a cell, followed by a group. The 16-year-old was brutally beaten and later taken to the hospital. During that beating, the jailer and someone else did not do anything, and at one point appeared to be pointing and laughing.

She added when these problems were brought up with the sheriff and management, they acted unaware of the issues, but then no significant changes were made.

She also spoke about the medical unit and said her visit there was “chaos.”

Inmates complained about not getting their medicine. Inmates were not in the right cells and just moving around, and an inmate told her the toilets were not working for 24 to 48 hours. When she went by the bathroom, she said the smell was so bad, she start gagging.

Despite these allegations, the sheriff’s attorney said we’re only hearing one side of the story, and they still need to make their argument.

“There were some scathing headlines last week, but there was also acknowledgment of lots of progress last week that didn’t necessarily make it into those scathing headlines. The sheriff is marching forward even without resources, even with $12 million less than he got last year from the city of New Orleans, even with the city’s refusal to fund higher wages than $10 an hour. The sheriff is still making progress that everyone’s acknowledged and we will demonstrate that this week in court,” said James Williams, Gusman’s attorney.

That monitor’s testimony was expected to wrap up around noon. Then the sheriff’s legal team will begin their arguments.