By Laura Maggi
The Times-Picayune
NEW ORLEANS — The state Department of Corrections expects to begin the evacuation of jails in the New Orleans area today, a spokeswoman for the agency said Thursday evening.
Information about which parishes will be the first to evacuate, and when the buses will begin moving the inmates, will not be released because of security concerns, said Pam Laborde, communications director for the agency.
The corrections department will help local sheriff’s offices with buses and vans, and provide teams of probation and parole officers to escort inmate caravans. If the entire coastal area of Louisiana needs to be evacuated, the corrections department will have to find space for about 8,800 inmates in either state prisons or local jails out of harm’s way, Laborde said.
Under corrections emergency plans, inmates must be evacuated before the state implements contraflow on the Interstate highways, or about 30 hours before a hurricane makes landfall.
Local law enforcement officials on Thursday declined to provide details about when they will evacuate inmates.
During a morning news conference, Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman said that if an evacuation is warranted, all inmates will be moved out of the city’s jail facilities, which were swamped by Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters.
That plan contrasts starkly to the situation after Hurricane Katrina hit three years, when thousands of Orleans Parish inmates were stuck for three days in flooded jails without electricity or adequate food and water. Inmates eventually were evacuated with the help of the state corrections department.
Gusman on Thursday said his office will take advantage of planning and coordination with the state and other sheriff offices.
“We can execute in advance, in advance of contraflow, in advance of the storm becoming too close,” he said.
The sheriff currently holds about 2,500 inmates, Gusman said.
About 300 municipal offenders will be released instead of evacuated, said Municipal Judge Paul Sens, adding that only people arrested on violent municipal charges such as domestic violence will be evacuated with the rest of the inmates.
Municipal inmates serving sentences will be given credit for time served and released from their jail obligation, Sens said. Inmates awaiting trial on a municipal charge will be told when to return to appear in court, he said.
Criminal District Court in New Orleans will shut down today and Tuesday as a precaution, said Judge Arthur Hunter, the chief judge at the court. The district attorney and public defenders’ offices closed Thursday.
A skeleton staff from the court, along with a group of Orleans Parish prosecutors and public defenders, will be moved to Camp Beauregard, an Army installation in Pineville.
Starting this weekend, first appearances for people arrested in New Orleans will be conducted via video conference from the jail, which is hooked up with the site at Camp Beauregard, Gusman said.
The jail’s Intake and Processing Center is expected to continue to operate as normal, but Gusman could move booking to the second floor of the House of Detention if weather conditions force that to happen. If that facility, which flooded during Katrina, becomes unusable, a booking facility will be set up at an “alternate predetermined location,” Gusman said.
Civil District Court will be open to filings today, but hearings are canceled today and Tuesday, said Judge Madeleine Landrieu. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal planned to close today and Tuesday, while the Louisiana Supreme Court planned to remain open today to accept filings.
Copyright 2008 The Times-Picayune