ACLU Report Details Horrors Suffered by Orleans Parish Prisoners in Wake of Hurricane Katrina

ACLU Report Details Horrors Suffered by Orleans Parish Prisoners in Wake of Hurricane Katrina (press release Aug. 10, 2006):

As the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project today released Abandoned & Abused: Orleans Parish Prisoners in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina. The report documents the experiences of thousands of men, women and children who were abandoned at Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) in the days after the storm.

* * *

In conjunction with the report's release, the National Prison Project urged the president to direct the Department of Justice to evaluate OPP's current evacuation plans in an effort to determine whether any meaningful improvements have been made over the past year. The ACLU also asked Congress to audit the jail's emergency preparedness plans. The ACLU is calling for a full and immediate investigation into abuses at Louisiana correctional facilities during and after the storm and is also urging the DOJ to make the findings from such an investigation public and accessible to state and federal prosecutors.

The 145-page report is here (cover at right).

Thanks: beSpacific.

Filed in: prisoners, ACLU, New-Orleans, Katrina, Justice-Department, beSpacific