Episode 282: Orleans Parish Prison after the storm ‘We’re still in here’

Bernard Smith and Katy Reckdahl on the men trapped in the Orleans Parish Prison and Broad Street Bridge in the wake of the levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina that flooded New Orleans.
Behind The Lens podcast logo

This week on Behind The Lens, after the levees broke and inundated New Orleans, millions of people saw the images of prisoners from the Orleans Parish Prison on the Broad Street Overpass awaiting rescue after the flooding. Some prisoners who were in the jail during the flooding told harrowing stories of their cells filling with water, having been abandoned by the guards in some situations, and only getting out after a few deputies returned days later along with other volunteer rescuers.

In the wake of the flooding, thousands of prisoners then faced a hellish landscape of confusion, as lawyers battled with the Department of Corrections to sort out each individual’s case. The disaster underscored the need for reforms, which began to take shape in the years after the storm, however, echoes of the pre-Katrina problems have begun to crop up again.

Our guests this week are Lens criminal justice reporter Bernard Smith and editor Katy Reckdahl.

Theme music by Podington Bear. Additional music Afternoons and Beachhead by Podington Bear soundofpicture.com. 

You can also listen to Behind The Lens on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other services.

Marta Jewson

Marta Jewson covers education in New Orleans for The Lens. She began her reporting career covering charter schools for The Lens and helped found the hyperlocal news site Mid-City Messenger. Jewson returned to New Orleans in the fall of 2014 after covering education for the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with majors in journalism and social welfare and a concentration in educational policy studies.

Jewson has covered New Orleans schools for 15 years through the nation's largest education reform experiment. She was a founding member of the outlet's Charter School Reporting Corps and was instrumental in holding schools accountable to sunshine laws during the rapid expansion of charter schools in the city.