Jail would evacuate if Hurricane Gustav threatens

by Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune Thursday August 28, 2008, 2:09 PM


If forced to evacuate by the path of Hurricane Gustav, the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's office will move all of the inmates out of local jails in advance of the state implementing "contraflow" on the Interstate highways, Sheriff Marlin Gusman said Thursday.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2008/08/if_forced_to_evacuate_by.html

Lafourche Parish jail inmates evacuated

Raymond Legendre
Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 10:47 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 11:21 p.m.
THIBODAUX -- More than 150 male Lafourche Parish inmates were evacuated tonight and bused to separate jails in northeast Louisiana.

A return date for the inmates has not been set and will ultimately depend on how much effect the storm has on the jail, said Maj. Marty Dufrene, head of corrections for the sheriff's office.

Although there were no plans at the start of the day to move the jail's male prisoners, the increasing threat of Hurricane Gustav to Lafourche Parish made the evacuation essential, Dufrene said.

This is the jail's first storm-related evacuation of both male and female prisoners in at least 20 years, Dufrene noted. Prisoners were evacuated in January after the jail's water pipes burst.

At around 8 p.m., 60 prisoners were taken in Louisiana Department of Corrections buses to Rayburn Correctional Center in Bastrop. Minutes before 10 p.m., the remaining 92 inmates boarded Lafourche Parish School Board buses to Richland Parish jail just south of Monroe.

The jail's female prisoners, which Dufrene said were between 24 and 27, were moved to Richland Parish jail on Friday afternoon.

Richland Parish is about a five to six hour drive from Thibodaux, Dufrene said, noting that parish's jail was selected as an evacuation point because of its space, relative distance and availability on short notice.

Lafourche Sheriff's Office correctional employees will not have to stay at the Richland Parish jail, as they did when inmates were taken to Orleans Parish Prison in January, Dufrene added.

http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20080830/HURBLOG/808300285/1224&title=Lafourche_Parish_jail_inmates_evacuated

"Looters will go directly to jail," New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin vowed at a Sunday morning press conference.

You will not get a pass this time. Anyone caught looting in New Orleans will go directly to the Big House in the general population. You will go directly to Angola Prison and God bless you if you go there."

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NTMwNzE2NDk2

I actually passed a bus that was headed east on I-20 Saturday morning from the Orleans Parish jail - proof they did evacuate!