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September 23, 2005
Katrina--New Orleans Organizers Call for Amnesty
New Orleans organizers call for amnesty
by Rose Braz
New Orleans – On the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans organizers from national grassroots organization Critical Resistance are demanding amnesty for those arrested during the aftermath of Katrina and for an accounting of what happened to prisoners during the evacuation of New Orleans.
“We mourn all the victims of Katrina, including those hidden victims who were locked up in Orleans area jails during the storm and those who have been imprisoned indefinitely in its aftermath,” said Critical Resistance Southern Regional Director Tamika Middleton, who was based in New Orleans.
“Thousands of people in New Orleans area jails have been separated from their families and do not know whether their loved ones are alive or dead, while hundreds of others have been refused the right to call their loved ones, held at gunpoint on freeway overpasses or are now locked up inside a sweltering New Orleans bus depot,” continued Middleton.
“Nearly 230 people have been booked in a makeshift jail set up in a Greyhound Station, the vast majority for the ‘crime’ of feeding and clothing themselves during the hurricane,” added Jordan Flaherty of Critical Resistance New Orleans.
“Our schools are closed and people have been left without food, water or shelter, but somehow this city has the means to open a jail? Locking people up in this crisis is a cruel mismanagement of city resources and counters the outpouring of the world’s support and concern for all victims of Hurricane Katrina,” continued Flaherty.
According to Lisa Kung of the Southern Center for Human Rights, “When people in the Orleans Parish Prison were finally evacuated, they were scattered to over 30 facilities throughout the state.” Kung also noted that “despite knowing a levee break would put everyone in the jails in danger, there was no evacuation plan for the people locked up in New Orleans. The right to safety and dignity demands an evacuation plan in case of a levee break. Those basic rights were ignored by officials on all levels, and people who had no way to escape the floodwaters were left without a way out.”
Organizers are also calling for a complete accounting of what happened to Orleans area prisoners amid disturbing reports that indicate that some prisoners may have been left behind to drown.
Meanwhile, on the streets, residents who lost everything are now confronted with martial law. “We met two grandmothers whose 16-year-old grandsons were handcuffed and taken away for allegedly pushing to get on busses that finally arrived after they had spent four days on the freeway overpass. Their grandmothers have not seen them since,” reported Xochitl Beverra of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children.
“On this Day of Prayer and Remembrance, we demand amnesty for prisoners in New Orleans,” said Tamika Middleton, who was evacuated from New Orleans. “Prisoners in New Orleans must be returned to their families to heal from this crisis.”
Critical Resistance is a national grassroots organization whose mission is to end society’s reliance on imprisonment as an answer to social, political and economic problems. Critical Resistance’s Southern Regional Office, located in New Orleans Mid-City neighborhood, was destroyed in the hurricane. Family members attempting to locate their loved ones who were in Orleans area jails may call the Louisiana Department of Corrections at (225) 342-3998. For more information, you can also contact Xochitl Beverra at (504) 606-8846.
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Posted by lois at September 23, 2005 06:22 PM