NEW ORLEANS — In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, one of the worst tragedies to ever hit the city. The sheriff at the time chose not to evacuate the Orleans Parish jail, and then it flooded. Nowadays the jail is evacuated before big storms, in preparation for this hurricane season, the jail ran through a mock evacuation.
Lessons have been learned since Hurricane Katrina, Major Silas Phipps with the sheriff's office said, "What we learned specifically from that is that we cannot wait to make decisions on whether we're going to evacuate those people we're entrusted with caring for."
In the lead-up to the 2005 Cat. 3 storm making landfall, then-mayor Ray Nagin ordered the city's first mandatory evacuation. Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman decided not to evacuate the jail, but when the city flooded so did the jail.
Sherman Singleton was in the parish jail when Hurricane Katrina hit, he told WWL Louisiana reporter Eleanor Tabone this week, "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 can see the top of cars."
Current Sheriff, Susan Hutson says they're not taking any risks and will evacuate if needed. The sheriff said, "We will be making assessments much earlier regarding whether or not we need to evacuate the 1200 folks in our facilities."
She went on to say, "During this exercise, our administrative personnel will simulate the process that we will initiate in the event of a category two storm or higher."
How that'll work, those in custody will get food and water then Sheriff Hutson said, "The residents in the jail will be given armbands... That security and i.t. Personal will use to properly record who they are, what bus they are on and where they will be transported to."
Major Phipps says inmates will be transported to a state department correctional facility.
"A select number of staff will travel with the residents we have a group that will go up the night before we start evacuating our residents," Phipps said. "They will be the staff that will be there to receive them as they arrive."
"Residents will not be returned to this facility until all systems are functioning properly," said Sheriff Hutson. Sheriff Hutson says if the storm gets here faster than they'd be able to evacuate, the jail will have to shelter in place. "We have two giant diesel and two giant gas-powered generators, they're about the size of a bus."
Singleton said, "It's very, very important that they definitely get those guys out as soon as possible. To somewhere that's safe."
The sheriff says those inside with mental health concerns or on medication will continue to get the care they need, saying, "Half of the folks in our custody are on our mental health docket and take mental health medication, so that is not something you can't stop."
She promises to the inmates' families, those incarcerated will be safe this hurricane season.
The state Department of Corrections said in a statement, "The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections stands prepared each hurricane season to assist local-level partners with any evacuation event. At the request of local sheriffs, the Department coordinates and assists in the evacuation of local level jails to move the inmate population out of the path of approaching tropical storms and hurricanes."
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