Trapped in jail purgatory after Hurricane Katrina: An editorial
Many institutions were ill-prepared for the flooding and chaos
that came after Hurricane Katrina, and the Orleans Parish
Sheriff's Office was no exception.  gusman-prison.JPGA federal
jury found that Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman
falsely imprisoned two Ohio tourists who spent a five weeks in
jail after Hurricane Katrina.  That may help explain the squalid
conditions inmates faced inside the parish prison in the days
following the storm and the seemingly haphazard way in which
inmates were eventually dispersed to prisons across the state.
But the storm and poor emergency planning don't excuse unjustly
imprisoning some inmates for weeks, even months, without a legal
basis for their detention and without giving them prompt access
to due process.  That's why it's not surprising that a federal
jury this week awarded more than $650,000 to two Ohio tourists
who spent a month trapped in Louisiana prisons after being
arrested in New Orle