| Prisoners Escape New Orleans Jails in Wake of Hurricane Katrina | |||
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| Netlore Archive: Forwarded email warns of escaped prisoners unleashed on Louisiana and beyond by Hurricane Katrina | |||
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Email example contributed by Donna B., 9 September 2005:
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Subject: FW: Be Careful this is very important and true - please MAKE the time to read it Be careful get the word out infom your friends & family coworkers etc- this! issue has been overlooked due to the devastation. Most of yall know we have a familiy restaurant in which I worked last night. We had a lot of people from New orleans come and buy food. I did not realize how many people were here already. On the way here this morning I was listening to the Radio and they were saying that a woman called in and said she saw her brother that had 2 life sentences for committing 7 murders, and now he is out on the street. (He was in prison in New Orleans). My friend Robert went down to Louisiana about 2 weeks ago to visit his brother who was in prison for stabbing his lawyer in the neck came by the restaurant to let us know that he made it back safe and he was not injured in the storm but . The problem was his brother was in the car with him as well. (The convicted murderer).If any of yall are like me. :) I love New Orleans accents but please be careful, who you talk to at the clubs, in the stores ,anywhere. Prisone! rs did escape, and these men have no ID, they are in a new city where none knows them to identify them and so far they don't exsist because so many people are missing, or dead. So pleasseeee be careful. This is affecting everybody... I know that there are murderers everywhere but please, please, please be careful and be mindful that there may be many more in our midst. Please just be aware of your surroundings and please pay close attention to your children. There is no way all of these felons will be located. I am afraid not only for my family and friends but for everyone. Please continue to pray for all men in all aspects because only GOD can help us. |
Email example contributed by Barbara B., 8 September 2005:
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To My friends and Family from a friend: Be careful and get the word out to infom your friends & family coworkers etc- this issue has been overlooked due to the devastation. A friend that we know have a family restaurant. They had a lot of people from New Orleans come and buy food. They did not realize how many people were here already in Kansas City. On the way to work the friend was listening to the Radio and they were saying that a woman called in and said she saw her brother that had 2 life sentences for committing 7 murders, and now he is out on the street. (He was in prison in New Orleans). My friend Robert went down to Louisiana about 2 weeks ago to visit his brother who was in prison for stabbing his lawyer in the neck came by the restaurant to let us know that he made it back safe and he was not injured in the storm but. The problem was his brother was in the car with him as well. (The convicted murderer).If any of yall are like me. :) I love New Orleans accents but please be careful, who you talk to at the clubs, in the stores, anywhere. Prisoners did escape, and these men have no ID, they are in a new city where no one knows them to identify them and so far they don't exist because so many people are missing, or dead. So pleasseeee be careful. This is affecting everybody... I know that there are murderers everywhere but please, please, please be careful and be mindful that there may be many more in our midst. Please just be aware of your surroundings and please pay close attention to your children. There is no way all of these felons will be located. I am afraid not only for my family and friends but for everyone. Please continue to pray for all men in all aspects because only GOD can help us. |
Comments: This rumor, if true at all, is surely exaggerated. A search of news stories mentioning escaped prisoners or convicts fleeing New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina yields only a few anecdotal reports, none acknowledged by authorities. This is not to deny that some prisoners might have escaped before or during evacuation operations in the chaotic aftermath of the storm, nor that caution is warranted in dealings with suspicious strangers, but no sound evidence exists to support the scaremongering assertion that there may be "many more" murderers in our midst due to the hurricane.
It should be noted that the warning comes to us from an anonymous author in standard "I heard this from a friend of a friend" form and is currently circulating in two versions, one identifying its point of origin as "here in Kansas City," the other identifying the location simply as "here." Since "here" could be anywhere, obviously, the latter variant significantly broadens the scope of the rumor.
Early reports of chaotic conditions in regional prisons after the hurricane, including mention of riots, hostage-taking and jail breaks, have been denied by authorities. "We cannot find any credible intelligence that the kinds of things that had been reported have happened," Louisiana Corrections Secretary Richard Stalder stated in a press briefing. He said over 7,600 prisoners were safely evacuated and moved to other facilities due to flooding and unsanitary conditions.
Anecdotal Accounts Jibe but Remain Unconfirmed
Among the anecdotal reports claiming otherwise is the account of Australian national Ashley McDonald, who was missing from New Orleans for almost two weeks before turning up amongst the displaced prisoner population in Baton Rouge. McDonald, who had been jailed on a minor offense, says he and fellow prisoners found themselves without food, water, power or plumbing after the hurricane struck. The jail had been virtually abandoned by authorities in the wake of the hurricane, McDonald told the Australian Associated Press. "A lot of people started breaking out and escaping and that's when attention was brought to the jail."
Though the above has not been confirmed by local officials, a similar account comes to us by way of New Orleans corrections officer Shantia Barnes, who told Newsday she observed rioting in the flooded Orleans Parish jail before the prisoners could be evacuated. After struggling to place all the inmates on buses, Barnes said, she and a group of fellow deputies managed to drive to safety in the West Bank when, in her words, "an inmate from the prison who escaped during the evacuation recognized the group and gave them a vehicle he had stolen."
To date, no official warnings have been issued concerning hurricane-related prison breaks or escaped convicts fleeing greater New Orleans.
Sources and further reading:
Prisoners, Students Displaced by Katrina
KATC-TV News, Baton RougeStorm Prompts Massive Transfer of Inmates
The Advocate, 5 September 2005Held Behind Walls in Katrina's Wake, They Also Serve
Wall Street Journal, 14 September 2005Australian Survivor Tells of Jail Horror
Australian Associated Press, 10 September 2005Katrina: Survivors Reunited
Newsday, 5 September 2005
Last updated: 09/14/05
