New Orleans prison's future in question

New Orleans CityBusiness, Dec 19, 2005 by Richard A. Webster

Several hundred inmates have returned to Orleans Parish Prison after a chaotic evacuation that dispersed more than 6,100 prisoners to facilities throughout the state. Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman said a functioning incarceration system is vital to rebuilding New Orleans. But questions remain whether the prison can provide the necessary services, said Eric Balaban, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project.Before Katrina, the jail relied on Charity and University hospitals to provide services for urgent medical and mental health problems and chronic services, and now they're closed, said Balaban.

So we have major concerns about how they're providing medical services. The sheriff even expressed those concerns in budget documents he submitted to the City Council.According to Gusman, Orleans Parish Prison suffered more than $7 million in hurricane-related damages. Only two of its 12 major facilities are operational and even those require repairs and improvements to be brought to pre-Katrina levels.The old central lockup on the first floor of the House of Detention reopened Oct. 17 after passing state fire marshal and health inspections. One month later, another detention building known as Phase 5 reopened.The South White Street facility is expected to reopen in early January, Gusman said.The prison population now stands near 900 prisoners compared with more than 6,100 prior to Hurricane Katrina. It is a mix of work-release inmates near the end of their sentences, those convicted of federal crimes and people arrested after the prison reopened.Orleans Parish Prison is processing new arrests from New Orleans as well as Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, where facilities are closed or operating at reduced capacity.Services shackledOf 1,100 Orleans Parish Prison deputies, only 420 have returned to their jobs after Katrina.In a Nov. 10 letter to Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Gusman said medical services are not in place to care for 900 inmates.Medical services that were formally provided by the Medical Center of Louisiana free of charge are nonexistent and now must be provided at private institutions. Our limited medical staff and equipment can't provide all of the services that are needed for dialysis, surgery and the treatment of AIDS.Prisoners with severe medical issues are sent to Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge and Lallie Kemp Medical Center in Independence.On top of its structural and health care problems, the prison faces a financial crisis.Our main source of revenue is per diem payments for the care, custody and control of inmates, Gusman wrote. Our current population (represents) a 90 percent reduction in revenue but our fixed costs remain high.Why then were inmates returned to the facility?Gusman said they wanted to assist in the recovery of New Orleans.A lot of the people we brought back are on work release and community service, so they're working in the community helping it rebuild, Gusman said.The ACLU sent a letter to the City Council Dec. 8 requesting it hold hearings to review prison conditions.The city owns these buildings and there should be oversight hearings to answer the basic public safety issues regarding the reopening of the jail, including the existence of an evacuation plan and the existence of a basic health care infrastructure to provide medical and mental health services, Balaban said.City Councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson said the council has no plans to hold hearings and that it provides oversight for the prison budget - not its operations.But we've never been through anything like Katrina so I don't know, she said. Missing planThe prison evacuation plan has been questioned post-Katrina.According to hundreds of inmate testimonials collected by the ACLU, Orleans Parish Prison descended into chaos after the levees broke. Deputies departed en masse, leaving behind prisoners in locked cells. The prisoners spent days without power, food or water, some standing in sewage-tainted water up to their chests or necks, according to the ACLU. Inmates also reported being beaten, sprayed with Mace and shot at by guards, ACLU officials say.Gusman denies the charges.The National Prison Project secured a court order requiring Orleans Parish Prison to produce its evacuation plan but after two months it has not done so, Balaban said.Orleans Parish Prison attorney John F. Weeks informed Balaban in a Nov. 30 letter that the fire evacuation plan is in the possession of Raymond Fitzpatrick, the fire safety officer for the Sheriff's Office. Fitzpatrick has not been seen or heard from since the hurricane. In an effort to locate the plan, Weeks said they intend to break into Fitzpatrick's locked filing cabinets in the detention house.It's baffling, Balaban said. You'd expect every officer on duty should have some portion of the plan. We're at a loss. It's very disconcerting.Gusman said the plan has been found but it will not satisfy anyone expecting a comprehensive solution to an event such as Hurricane Katrina.You're not going to see any kind of evacuation plan that details what we did because no one ever imagined we would be surrounded by 7 to 8 feet of water.