Other Resources

Abandoned and Abused: Prisoners at Orleans Parish Prison in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina (released August 2006)

Download ACLU Orleans Parish Prison report (August 2006)

This report seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of what the men, women and children at OPP (Orleans Parish Prison) endured before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. It is written to capture their experiences, so that their voices may be heard. In the days following Hurricane Katrina, thousands of men, women and children were left in locked cells with sewage tainted water rising to their chests. They went days without food, water or ventilation. Once rescued from the flooded buildings, many prisoners were transferred to prisons and jails throughout Louisiana, where their living situation only got worse. For many of the prisoners whose stories appear in this report, the nightmare continues to this day. At present, OPP evacuees sit in facilities around the state awaiting long overdue trials on minor charges. Nearly every day attorneys discover another prisoner whose case has slipped through the cracks. These are prisoners doing "Katrina time", as it has come to be known. Some prisoners have even been returned to a reopened OPP, which is now overcrowded and dangerous and full of post-Katrina hazards.