A lot has happened in the last few days . . . (an Update on Abuse of Evacuated Inmates). By Phylliss Mann

On 10/2/05 Phyllis E. Mann provided the following update on Abused Inmate Evacuees:

Subject: Jefferson Parish to Jena prison inmates

All:

A lot has happened in the last few days, and I wanted to make you all aware.

Jefferson Parish evacuated their Inmates quickly after the hurricane, and it appears that most of them were evacuated out of Jefferson on Aug 30. Most of them ended up at Jena, Louisiana in the old Jena Juvenile Justice Center, which apparently the DOC opened up to house evacuated inmates. We learned all of this on September 20 when Julie Kilborn and I went to Winn Correctional Center to interview the evacuated inmates there. Many of them had originated in Jefferson, been sent to Jena, and then moved on to Winn.

These guys told us appalling stories of physical abuse occurring at Jena, but most importantly they told us that there was still a large number of Jefferson Parish inmates who were being held at Jena. We tried to go to Jena on Thurs Sept 22, but with Hurricane Rita looming we could not schedule the interviews until Tues Sept 27. On Sept 27, two attorneys Rachel Jones and Dave Park went to Jena. They learned that the inmates still at Jena, who by now had been there for 3 weeks, were continuing to be subjected to horrifying abuse, both physical and mental. Rachel and Dave went back to Jena, along with Christine Lehmann and Neal Walker, on Thurs Sept 29, to finish interviewing the inmates. Not only did the rest of the inmates confirm the abuse, but men who had spoken to the lawyers on Tues had been beaten and placed in segregation for telling the lawyers about the abuse. We also learned that inmates from Calcasieu Parish have been evacuated to the Jena facility.

On Friday Sept 30, the Department of Justice was notified of the situation. We also notified Human Rights Watch, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and members of the media including the LA Times, the NY Times, and CNN. The various civil rights organizations – in particular Ted Shaw and Vanita Gupta of the NAACP-LDF and Corinne Carey of Human Rights Watch- got to work immediately and contacted Louisiana state legislators. Those legislators (primarily members of the black caucus, I believe) were outraged and have worked quickly to take control of the facility. As of 5:00 today, we understand that the Louisiana State Police have been asked to take over the facility immediately, to protect the inmates, and to preserve evidence of abuse and the identity of the perpetrators. Also, a Judge from Orleans has signed an order authorizing Human Rights Watch to enter the Jena facility and conduct interviews.

I wanted you all to be aware of this situation, because even in the chaos that is our current criminal justice system, it seems that caring lawyers working together can achieve some small successes.

Phyllis E. Mann
Post Office Box 705
Alexandria, LA 71309
(318) 448-0000
FAX (318) 448-2250
e-mail: phyllis@kricket.net

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

Snippets From Angola By-Julie H. Kilborn

Attorney Julie Kilborn has been interviewing inmates has been interviewing prisoners at Angola in support of LACDL and LAPDA's efforts to locate evacuated inmates, connect them with their displaced lawyers and ensure their cases do not fall through the cracks. She posted the following on the LACDL list serve today (9-16-05)

Here's a small snippet of some of the stories I have heard from the 150+ female inmates from OPP now at Angola that I have talked to over 3 days earlier this week. These women have been incarcerated now for almost 3 weeks, and most have had no contact with any of their family, have no idea if their loved ones survived the storm or if they evacuated safety and to where:

- 3 who had bonded out but were not released from OPP either because of the storm curfew or because the phones went down.

- a 55-year-old lady who has never been in jail before, was taking her 34-year-old son to the store on the Sunday before the storm. Her son is severely mentally handicap and has a 7-year-old mental capacity. Inmate does not drink. Was arrested in the parking lot for public intoxication. As she was being put into the police car, the last she saw was her MR son walking away yelling "mama!" She does not know where her son took shelter from the storm, or even if he survived. She has no way of finding him. She has no idea why she was arrested for public intoxication.

- 38-year-old lady who has never been in jail before, was walking to her car after work when several men approached her asking her where the "stuff" is, apparently mistaking her for a drug dropoff person. As she was telling them she doesn't have anything, police swarmed all over, searching her and her car demanding to know where the dope was. When no dope was found, the police arrested her for prostitution.

- One who was arrested for public intoxication and obstruction of a public place -- the "public place" being her own driveway.

- At least 4 who were arrested just before the storm on 5-6 year-old warrants from misdemeanor charges they had already done their time on but that had not been removed from the computers. At least one of these 4 was stopped for a traffic violation and arrested when she was run on the computer; police did NOT write a traffic citation.

- 4-month pregnant inmate was severely sunburned on her head, face and neck from having to sit under the sun on the bridge waiting to be evacuated. She is now experiencing cramps in her lower abdomen.

- One whose charge for misdemeanor was dismissed on the Friday before the storm but she was never released because "the paper didn't make it out of the courtroom."


Julie H. Kilborn

A SYSTEM GONE AWRY-BEFORE AND AFTER THE STORM By: Mary Olive Pierson

For the past several days, Attorney Mary Olive Pierson has been interviewing prisoners at Angola in support of LACDL and LAPDA's efforts to locate evacuated inmates, connect them with their displaced lawyers and ensure their cases do not fall through the cracks. She sends this report on September 15, 2005.

As if it is not bad enough that the female inmates formerly located in the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) have been subjected to the horrors of the hurricane and a barbaric Sheriff–3 days under water, locked in the jail without food, water, lights or air before being evacuated–they continue to be subjected to the violation of their civil and human rights because, for the most part, they have no business being incarcerated at all. I am speaking from personal experience, so I know what I am talking about and I cannot believe what I have seen. I am speaking about women inmates who were at Angola on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 that I personally interviewed or saw and/or who were interviewed by 5 other attorneys with me on that date.

Let me hasten to say that the staff at Angola was extremely helpful, courteous and assisted us in our task. Thank God that Angola offered its facility so the women could be evacuated from the toxic situation in New Orleans. (As if locking the prisoners in the jail after the storm in 8 feet of water is not bad enough, we were told on good authority by personnel at Angola that the Warden of Angola or a member of his staff offered the Sheriff of Orleans to take the prisoners in on Saturday before the storm and the Orleans Sheriff refused. This should be investigated thoroughly because it solidifies his apparent callous disregard for the humans in his custody.) Actually, arriving at Camp F (the death house) at Angola was a welcome relief to the women!! Can you imagine being glad you are incarcerated at Camp F?? That ought to tell you how bad the situation was before they got there.

I fully expected to find a few lost souls, who got caught up in the system and who needed to be released. I also expected to find that the majority of the inmates would be women who simply needed to be identified and whose families needed to be notified of their whereabouts, but who could not be released because they were in jail for felonies or violent behavior. This is exactly the opposite of what I actually found. Only eight of the women I interviewed were actually doing time or were jailed for felonies and could not be bonded. The remaining majority, approximately 75%, were still in jail beyond their release date or were in jail for such heinous crimes (all misdemeanors) as Drinking in Public, Crime against Nature, Lewd Conduct, violating a civil injunction by coming within 96 feet of the former matrimonial domicile, fraudulent statement on an application to a health care facility (which I have never heard of), disturbing the peace and one woman was being held on a warrant from California for failing to pay a $111.00 fine for a jaywalking ticket! I also learned about the “Tuesday and Thursday sweeps” by certain members of NOPD. This is not about TV ratings.

The other disturbing fact is that most of these women have lost their homes and they do not know now where their families are. Furthermore, their families do not know whether they are alive or dead or where they are.

During the interviews, it became apparent to me that the New Orleans police are very familiar with Article 701 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. They know they can arrest anyone and, unless the person has money to make bond or hire a lawyer, the inmate is going to do 60 days before they can be released when the D. A. refuses the charges, which I bet happens all the time. So the police can give anyone they want 60 days with no trial or evidence. Just make the arrest, put the defendant in jail and if they are poor, they will do a minimum of 60 days. It is no wonder that the violent gang members were still free after the storm–the jail was full of non-violent poor women charged with misdemeanors. I imagine that it is simply easier and certainly safer for the NOPD to focus on lewd conduct, solicitation and drinking in public and leave the violent drug and gang members alone. I suppose that if I had a choice between seeking out and arresting a violent criminal who possibly has a gun or a poor woman drinking a beer on Decatur Street, for my own safety I might go after the poor woman with the beer. I guess that if the jails are full, the police jobs are justified, no matter what the character of the offenses are because it looks like the police are hard at work. Has anyone in New Orleans ever heard of a summons or a ticket? Can’t we save the jails for the worst offenders? There were plenty of those on the loose after the storm. Do rich people dressed in their finest who drink on Royal or Bourbon street get arrested and thrown in jail? I did not meet any at Angola on Tuesday. I thought I had seen lewd conduct actually advertised and promoted in the French Quarter in the past. Was I just seeing things? Or, is the “crime” of lewd conduct reserved only for the poor who live in New Orleans and who are not tourists?

Do no misunderstand. I know there are good cops everywhere but what I have seen and heard indicates that there is something drastically wrong with the system in New Orleans. If any good comes out of this storm, it will be in the revelation and uncovering of the apparent cancer in the New Orleans justice system. Now that it has come out in the open, shame on us if we do not address and change the way business has been done in the past.

Mary Olive Pierson
Attorney at Law

I Know Your Hearts, In Particular, Are For lawyers. By Michelle Ghetti

On Wednesday after the Storm, Southern Law School Professor Michelle Ghetti's posted an email to the LACDL List-serve relating Katrina's impact on the legal system and legal profession in stark simple terms. I can't improve on her description:

I know your hearts, in particular, are for lawyers. Think of this...

5,000 - 6,000 lawyers (1/3 of the lawyers in Louisiana) have lost their offices, their libraries, their computers with all information thereon, their client files - possibly their clients, as one attorney who e-mailed me noted. As I mentioned before, they are scattered from Florida to Arizona and have nothing to return to. Their children's schools are gone and, optimistically, the school systems in 8 parishes/counties won't be re-opened until after December. They must re-locate their lives.

Our state supreme court is under some water - with all appellate files and evidence folders/boxes along with it. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals building is under some water - with the same effect. Right now there may only be 3-4 feet of standing water but, if you think about it, most files are kept in the basements or lower floors of courthouses. What effect will that have on the lives of citizens and lawyers throughout this state and this area of the country? And on the law?

The city and district courts in as many as 8 parishes/counties are under water, as well as 3 of our circuit courts - with evidence/files at each of them ruined. The law enforcement offices in those areas are under water - again, with evidence ruined. 6,000 prisoners in 2 prisons and one juvenile facility are having to be securely relocated. We already have over-crowding at most Louisiana prisons and juvenile facilities. What effect will this have? And what happens when the evidence in their cases has been destroyed? Will the guilty be released upon the communities? Will the innocent not be able to prove their innocence?

Our state bar offices are under water. Our state disciplinary offices are under water - again with evidence ruined. Our state disciplinary offices are located on Veteran's Blvd. In Metairie. Those of you who have been watching the news, they continue to show Veteran's Blvd. It's the shot with the destroyed Target store and shopping center under water and that looks like a long canal. Our Committee on Bar Admissions is located there and would have been housing the bar exams which have been turned in from the recent July bar exam (this is one time I'll pray the examiners were late in turning them in - we were set to meet in 2 weeks to go over the results). Will all of those new graduates have to retake the bar exam?

Two of the 4 law schools in Louisiana are located in New Orleans (Loyola and Tulane - the 2 private ones that students have already paid about $8,000+ for this semester to attend). Another 1,000+ lawyers-to-be whose lives have been detoured. I've contacted professors at both schools but they can't reach anyone at those schools and don't know the amount of damage they've taken. Certainly, at least, this semester is over. I'm trying to reach the Chancellor's at Southern and LSU here in Baton Rouge to see if there's anything we can do to take in the students and/or the professors. I think I mentioned before, students from out of state have been stranded at at least 2 of the other universities in New Orleans - they're moving up floor after floor as the water rises. Our local news station received a call from some medical students at Tulane Medical Center who were now on the 5th floor of the dormitories as the water had risen.&nbs p; One of them had had a heart attack and they had no medical supplies and couldn't reach anyone - 911 was busy, local law enforcement couldn't be reached, they were going through the phone book and reached a news station 90 miles away!! It took the station almost 45 minutes to finally find someone with FEMA to try to get in to them!!

And, then, there are the clients whose files are lost, whose cases are stymied. Their lives, too, are derailed. Of course, the vast majority live in the area and that's the least of their worries. But, the New Orleans firms also have a large national and international client base. For example, I received an e-mail from one attorney friend who I work with on some crucial domestic violence (spousal and child) cases around the nation - those clients could be seriously impacted by the loss, even temporarily, of their attorney - and he can't get to them and is having difficulty contacting the many courts around the nation where his cases are pending. Large corporate clients may have their files blowing in the wind where the high rise buildings had windows blown out.

I woke up this morning to the picture of Veteran's Blvd which made me think of my students who just took the bar. My thoughts wandered from there to the effect on the Disciplinary Offices. Then my thoughts continued on. I'm sure I'm still missing a big part of the future picture. It's just devastating. Can you imagine something of this dimension in your state?

Michelle

Professor Michelle Ghetti
Southern University Law Center
Baton Rouge, LA 70813
225-771-4900