When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on 29 August, 2005, the 6,800 prisoners in the inner city Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) were initially ordered evacuated to a facility in northern Louisiana two days before by N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin, but Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman refused that order.
“The prisoners will stay where they belong,” Gusman announced. He had generators, he said, and a loyal staff, so the city’s inmates would hang tight. Instead of transferring the OPP prisoners out, Gusman accepted 300 more prisoners from the St. Bernard Parish jail into the OPP the night before Katrina hit.
Within hours of Katrina’s Cat 4–5 winds hitting the coast on 29 August, the OPP’s generators failed. All the lights went out, and the under-ventilated jail became stifling. The electric cell doors remained stubbornly shut as the facility filled with water.
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Eleven years later, Marlin N. Gusman continues to be Orleans Parish Sheriff (as of 18 October, 2016). It is an elected position.