Evacuation of Women Inmates From Orleans Parish Prison. By, Julie H. Kilborn

Between September 11th, and 13th, Julie Kilborn a criminal defense attorney along with other volunteer lawyers from Baton Rouge, interviewed over 150 women prisoners who had been evacuated from the Orleans Parish Prison to Angola State Penitentiary. Julie is one of many volunteers who have fanned out across the state to inventory and interview the inmate population that was evacuated from the areas ravaged by Katrina. They have found many women (and men) who should have been released from custody before Katrina hit and certainly before now. Many have yet to be convicted of any crime. Many are minor offenders whose sentence was over before the Storm hit but were not released because of the curfew or because their paper work was delayed. Still they sit, literally in the shadow of the death house at Angola, waiting for release.

While the interviews were done to determine each inmate's location and to assist in connecting them with their displaced lawyers and family members, they have also served to let the prisoners know they are not forgotten, forsake or abandoned. But, the interviews are also documenting the horrific experiences of these men and women who were totally dependent on the state for protection from Katrina’s fury. Some terrifying and appalling stories are beginning to emerge. Julie has previously reported some of those stories here.

As I read these dispatches I am struck by the compact, concrete and sober descriptions of the circumstances in which these women found themselves and the conditions in which she finds them. Julie is not a reporter embellishing for “good copy.” She is a scout, telling us what she finds as the water level falls. Today she relates the following information she received from the evacuated female Orleans Parish Prison inmates during her interviews at Angola:

The inmates on the 1st floor had to get onto the top bunk because of the water, but then the water came up to the top bunk. At that time, the females were taken to the men’s side of the dorm, but the men had started a fire so the women were left in a smoke-filled room overnight and most of the next day. Some women told me they were still (2 weeks after the evacuation) coughing up black stuff and getting black stuff out of their noses. The next day, around 3:00 p.m., the women were taken outside to walk 2 blocks to dry land. They had to walk through chest-deep water, and it took them until 11:00 p.m. to go the 2 blocks. They then had to sleep on the bridge, in wet clothes which made them cold. The next morning the sun beat down on them; one lady had a severe sunburn on her face, neck, and head. Many women had broken out with a rash that caused extreme itching. One lady is 4 mos. pregnant and is now having abdominal cramps.

On Sunday night, the inmates had their last meal until Wed. night. Some told me they had a piece of bread and 1/2 a piece of meat; others said they had a piece of meat and a piece of fruit. From Sunday night until Wednesday night, the inmates had no food or water but the guards were walking around drinking bottled water. One guard told an inmate to get water from the toilet to take with her medicine. Some other inmates were directed to drink water from a garbage can and then were told the following day that the water in the garbage can was contaminated.

A couple of inmates said they overheard the sheriff being told on Sunday morning that “Angola is ready for some inmates” to which the Sheriff replied, “that’s okay, we’re staying here.”


Julie Kilborn
Baton Rouge, LA -
Sunday, September 18, 2005