Art. 228.1. Disposal of property of prisoners; Orleans Parish

            Any property taken from a prisoner in any of the penal institutions under the jurisdiction of the criminal sheriff for the parish of Orleans shall, after 90 days from the release of said prisoner, be disposed of in the following manner:

            (1) There shall be notice of the sheriff's right to dispose of the property in ninety days on the entry of the list of property made at the time the person is incarcerated. Provided however, this provision shall not apply to property in possession of the sheriff at the effective date of this Act.

            (2) After the passage of ninety days from the release of the prisoner, and providing the property is not needed for any legal reason by the sheriff, and it remains unclaimed, the criminal sheriff of Orleans Parish may petition the Criminal District Court for the parish of Orleans or any court of proper jurisdiction for the disposal of said property in any lawful manner, at his discretion.

            (3) Before the criminal sheriff petitions said court he shall cause an advertisement of his intention to seek approval of the court to be placed in the newspaper designated as the official journal of the city of New Orleans one time at least ten days prior to filing of his petition. In the petition for disposal the sheriff shall set forth a brief description of the items to be disposed of, the court in which the proceedings will be filed, the title of the proceedings, and method or methods of intended disposal.

            (4) The petition of the sheriff shall make specific recommendations as to the method of disposal for each item of unclaimed property and pray for the court to order its disposal.

            (5) The court shall order the property disposed of in the manner contained in the sheriff's petition or order the disposal of the property in any legal manner within the sole discretion of the court.

            (6) The costs of the proceeding to dispose of unclaimed property shall be derived from the disposal of the property as provided under this Article.

            (7) Any funds remaining after payment of the cost of the proceedings to dispose of unclaimed property shall be deposited in the criminal court fund account which shall be used in defraying the expenses of the criminal district courts of Orleans Parish.

            Added by Acts 1974, No. 285, §1.