NEW ORLEANS — Nearly 20 years ago, the biggest tragedy to hit New Orleans struck: Hurricane Katrina. The Orleans Parish Sheriff at the time, Marlin Gusman, said the parish jail would not evacuate, the jail flooded, and those on the first floor were close to being underwater.
WWL Louisiana reporter Eleanor Tabone sat down with a New Orleans man who was in the jail when Hurricane Katrina hit.
In 2005, thousands of people sat behind the walls of the Orleans Parish jail.
Two days before Hurricane Katrina hit alerts started putting the city on edge, knowing the storm was going to be serious.
Then Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the city's first mandatory evacuation, those in jail, however, stayed where they were. They were orders from then-sheriff Marlin Gusman.
Sherman Singleton was one of them, locked in a cell on tier two. Singleton said, "I started to panic along with other guys."
He said before the storm hit he, "Got two garbage bags, put one in the other and I filled it up with water... other guys were doing things as far as conserving food."
Then Katrina happened, "We woke up the next morning and looked out the window, and oh my god, the water had to be 12 feet in the air like you could see the top of cars."
"It was very, very traumatizing and everyone began to really panic."
As New Orleans flooded, so did the jail, Singleton said, "A lot of guys felt like you... you're leaving us here to die." He says pandemonium inside erupted, with inmates stuck in fetid, chest-high water with no food, drinking water, or air conditioning.
"Like six, seven toilets that they were using just like all those days, there's no air and nothing... it was horrible. I don't know how we didn't get sick just off of that alone... 100-plus-degree heat. And it's just urine and fecal matter... some guys are throwing up."
For four days, he and thousands of others were left in those torturous conditions. Finally, relief came. He said, "We got on the airboats, like maybe 10 at a time, and they drove us around up under the Broad bridge."
Singleton says he was transported to a facility in Concordia Parish. Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson says, "An evacuation would be initiated in the event of a category two hurricane or higher."
"It's very, very important that they definitely get those guys out as soon as possible, to somewhere that's safe," he said.
As for Sherman Singleton, the things he saw looking through his cell window nearly 20 years ago, "Seeing things that were ghastly scenes... there were a few bodies that floated by."
He wishes he could forget these sights and moments he hopes no other incarcerated person will ever have to see.
Former Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman sent a statement on June 12.
Flood waters inundated the City of New Orleans because of multiple levee breaches, which occurred after Hurricane Katrina had passed. Thus, mass evacuations of private and public service facilities weren't initiated before the storm because the established protocol at the time was to shelter in place, and the Orleans prison suffered minimal damage from the actual hurricane. Once widespread flooding occurred from the levee failures, all 5000 inmates were safely evacuated over a three-day period, without any loss of life or serious injuries, and no one was abandoned.
Since the unprecedented disaster of the 2005 storms and levee failures, I as Orleans Parish Sheriff developed a coordinated plan with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections and the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association. A comprehensive protocol was instituted, including annual evacuation drills with inmates and measures like using barcodes on wristbands for smooth evacuation and re-entry. Importantly, our evacuation procedures were designed to ensure public safety and were to be carried out before contraflow measures were initiated.
Friday, the sheriff's office will practice an evacuation to prepare for any possible hurricanes.
Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office full statement:
"As hurricane season begins, the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office recognizes the importance of ensuring the safe and efficient relocation of anyone in our custody should we be forced to evacuate our facilities. An evacuation would be initiated in the event of a category two hurricane or higher.
Sheriff Susan Hutson and OPSO staff will conduct a mock evacuation exercise with 10 selected residents at the Orleans Justice Center to make sure staff is prepared to manage the coordination and logistics for a full evacuation. We assure the community that through this exercise we are reinforcing our efforts and are committed to the safety of our residents in custody. We are also grateful to our hardworking and dedicated staff who are committed to getting everyone to safety and out of harms way."
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.