Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections

Corrections Services

Hurricane Katrina/Hurricane Rita Activity Report

March 21, 2006

The mission of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Corrections Services (DPS&C), is to provide for the custody, control, care, and treatment of adjudicated offenders through enforcement of laws and management of programs designed to insure the safety of the public, staff, and inmates and to reintegrate offenders into society. In the days leading up to and since passage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, that mission has manifested itself most dramatically in the evacuation of thousands of sentenced and unsentenced local, state, and federal inmates from parish facilities in the storms’ paths, the continued housing and management of thousands for whom local prison space is no longer available, the temporary establishment of a regional detention facility for arrestees, and decisive action to locate and resume supervisory control of thousands of displaced probationers and parolees (among them 472 sex offenders) from the impacted parishes.

Scope of the Hurricane-Related Challenge

At the request and with the assistance of local authorities, DPS&C began evacuation of inmates from parish jails in the path of the Category 5 Hurricane Katrina on August 27, 2005. Nearly 900 inmates were evacuated from small local jails prior to the storm’s arrival. Orleans and Jefferson housed over 7000 inmates. Vertical on site evacuation in Orleans Parish of such large numbers of inmates has historically been proven to be appropriate compared to a mass pre-storm evacuation with the attendant civilian traffic. However, the unprecedented devastation that followed Katrina required the evacuation of all inmates from Orleans and Jefferson jails. The Sheriffs of Orleans and Jefferson requested assistance to help them evacuate approximately 7,350 inmates from their Parishes (this number includes St. Bernard Parish inmates who had been previously evacuated to Orleans). Then, on September 22, 2005, as Hurricane Rita threatened devastation to the rest of Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, the DPS&C and local authorities began evacuation of parish jails in southwestern Louisiana. At the end of that four-week period, the Department, in partnership with local law enforcement agencies throughout the state, had successfully coordinated efforts to safely relocate 10,560 inmates to secure housing in state prisons and local jails in central and northern Louisiana and a federal facility in Florida.

Evacuation of Jefferson and Orleans Parish Inmates

After the floodwaters rose late on Monday, August 29, 2005, the Orleans and Jefferson Parish Sheriffs’ Offices contacted DPS&C’s Incident Management Center (IMC) and requested assistance with the evacuation of their entire inmate population. Immediately after the calls came, the IMC Director, in accordance with the Department’s Emergency Operations Plan, began mobilizing staff and resources to assist in the movement of over 6,000 Orleans Parish inmates.

The evacuation of approximately 1,100 Jefferson Parish inmates was accomplished in less than 24 hours. The Orleans Parish complex presented logistical problems, however, because of the serious flooding that developed following breeched levees in the city. It was impossible to drive buses and vans up to the steps of the parish prison. Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Deputies used the Broad Street overpass as a staging location for inmates to be evacuated. Armed Correctional Officers and Probation and Parole Officers as well as Sheriff’s Deputies secured the scene. Initially, small boats manned by Correctional Officers and Criminal Sheriff’s Deputies were used to evacuate four to six inmates at a time from the overpass and to transport them to a dry section of Interstate 10. When this procedure became too time consuming, DPS&C staff built an 8 by 50 foot scaffold near the Broad Street overpass. This allowed the transfer of inmates down the scaffold from the overpass to a lower section of the bridge where local, state and federal prison buses were lined up to receive them. DPS&C staff and Criminal Sheriff’s Deputies worked around the clock to conduct this evacuation. Despite rising waters, failed electrical systems, and a potentially volatile population, the entire evacuation took just under 72 hours. Corrections staff trained in emergency response and Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Deputies remained on site to secure the scene until all inmates were evacuated.

Buses under security escort by officers of the DPS&C brought most inmates to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, a prison just outside Baton Rouge. Upon arrival, inmates were fed, and staff collected the names of emergency contacts in an effort to help inmates locate displaced family members in shelters and safe places across the nation. Because the inmates arrived with no official records, staff worked to build institutional records containing identifying information and current legal, medical, and mental health information-for which the only source initially was the word of the inmates. Evacuated inmates were secured at the staging area until they could be transported to state prisons and local facilities across the state who had agreed to assist with housing.

Other Major Activities Supporting the DPS&C Mission

The flooding of all New Orleans jails left New Orleans without an adequate facility to house looters and others arrested for and accused of breaking laws in the greater New Orleans area after Katrina passed. DPS&C staff, primarily from Louisiana State Penitentiary and Dixon Correctional Institute, built a temporary booking, holding and detention facility in New Orleans at the Greyhound bus depot/Amtrak train station. It was operational by Saturday, September 3, 2005, staffed by Department employees, personnel from the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office and Orleans Criminal Sheriff’s Office Deputies. In response to an appeal coordinated by the American Correctional Association (ACA), the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA), and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), correctional officers from the New York City Department of Correction, the Kentucky Department of Corrections and the BOP assisted with this project. This facility was viewed as crucial to the restoration of law and order in the city. Individuals were booked, processed, and temporarily detained at this facility. Some were released, but most were transported either to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center or Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women to await next steps in the criminal justice process. The DPS&C, Attorney General’s Office and Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office operated this detention center as the sole jail facility for local and federal use for Orleans and surrounding parishes until October 17, 2005 when the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office opened and began operating an 800 bed facility at the House of Detention.

Within 24 hours of getting the evacuation calls from Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, David Wade Correctional Center and J. Levy Dabadie Correctional Center temporarily opened a facility in Jena to absorb some of the enormous number of inmates coming into the system. New York City Correctional Officers were utilized at the Jena facility and at Steve Hoyle Rehabilitation Center in Tallulah, David Wade Correctional Center in Homer, and the Bossier Parish Detention Center.

Before Katrina’s landfall, at the request of the New Orleans Health Rehabilitation Center, officers from Dixon Correctional Institute helped evacuate 187 residents and staff from the nursing home to Villa Feliciana in Jackson.

Probation and Parole Officers transferred approximately 300 “walking wounded” from New Orleans to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. These evacuees were sick or injured civilians triaged at an Acadian Ambulance staging area who were found not to require ambulance transport.

With the help of buses from faith-based community partners, the Department oversaw transport to Baton Rouge of hundreds of civilians who had gathered on Interstate 10 near the staging area where Orleans Parish Prison inmates were being loaded onto buses.

As offers to help staff and support operations poured in from other state and large city departments of correction, the Department solicited basic supplies like diapers, baby food, formula, soap and hygiene supplies, nonperishable food, and clothing and established an emergency fund to assist staff and others in need from the impacted areas, many of whom lost their homes and everything in them or faced significant wind and water damage, which made the structures uninhabitable.

The Department collaborated with the BOP, which immediately offered access to a federal facility in Coleman, Florida. BOP provided buses and drivers to transport inmates to that location. Approximately 920 inmates were moved there in the early weeks after Hurricane Katrina.

For approximately three weeks after Katrina hit, Probation and Parole Officers provided security patrols for the New Orleans Fire Department as firefighters answered calls 24/7. Officers worked 12-hour shifts and either rode along on the fire trucks as calls were received or provided escort in their vehicles.

In the weeks after Hurricane Rita hit southwest Louisiana, Probation and Parole Officers provided valuable security patrols to assist parish sheriffs, local police departments and even hospitals.

Washington Correctional Institute (WCI) in Angie served as a FEMA distribution site for residents in the parish, with officers and inmate crews handing out water, ice and MRE’s. WCI also served as a Red Cross Debit Card Distribution site, where parish residents could apply for financial help. In response to the call for assistance from ACA and ASCA, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections sent Correctional Officers and mental health staff to assist WCI in the weeks after the storm. The visiting mental health staff assisted other institutions as well.

Also in response to the appeal from ACA and ASCA, the Arkansas Department of Corrections sent medical staff to assist David Wade Correctional Center in Homer and other institutions in inoculating evacuees and staff for tetanus, diphtheria and Hepatitis A and B.

C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center in DeQuincy and Allen Correctional Center in Kinder both had to deal with power outages for more than a week after Hurricane Rita. As was the case with WCI, staff and inmates were able to manage on generator power. Phelps Correctional Center also served as a FEMA distribution site for its surrounding community.

DPS&C provided space and other support to enable justice system officials from Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes to hold hearings for persons arrested following Hurricane Katrina and to review dockets of inmates whose cases were pending at the time of their evacuation.

Discussions between the Department and the Criminal Defense Bar led to the establishment of a Detainee/Family Locator Phone Bank on September 8, 2005, at the Department’s Headquarters office. Because inmates from the hurricane-impacted parishes and their loved ones had all been displaced, no one knew how to determine the condition of the other. Headquarters staff manned seven dedicated telephone lines, initially seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., answering questions about inmates’ whereabouts and faxing information to inmates regarding callers’ location and contact information. After Hurricane Rita passed, staff began transferring messages between inmates and their families in that impact area. During its six weeks of operation, the phone bank received approximately 9,516 calls and delivered more than 5,157 messages to displaced inmates.

Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson partnered with the United States Humane Society to shelter displaced animals, primarily dogs, at a barn located near the facility. Inmates volunteered to care for the animals until the original owners claimed them or adoption arrangements were made.

The four Probation and Parole offices in the Greater New Orleans area were shut down by Hurricane Katrina and their staffs seriously impacted. In the weeks that followed, employees regrouped; now more than 75 officers, supervisors, and support staff are working out of one usable office on St. Charles Avenue.

In response to unique concerns linked to sex offenders under supervision, Probation and Parole Officers in the nine severely impacted areas have been able to locate and/or issue warrants for the 472 sex offenders who were under their supervisory authority when the hurricanes hit and communities were urged to evacuate. In fact, administrators in the area impacted by Hurricane Rita had learned from the experiences of those in the path of Hurricane Katrina and issued special reporting instructions to sex offenders before Rita reached the area.

Since the storms, the Department has made an official request to the National Institute for Corrections for technical assistance in preparing an after-action report. In addition, short- and long-term priorities of the DPS&C have been submitted and are being acted upon daily as part of Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco’s Louisiana Recovery Authority.