FROM
THE ADVOCATE
September 6, 2005

Hurricane forces inmates from Jefferson into Angola
Baker-Zachary bureau

ANGOLA -- The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola received 330 Jefferson Parish prisoners Tuesday afternoon displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, along with a group of women prisoners from Orleans Parish, Assistant Warden Cathy Fontenot said.
The women represented overflow -- prisoners who could not be housed at the Louisiana Correctional Center for Women in St. Gabriel, she said. The female inmates are being housed at Camp F, a remote facility for trusties who were moved to other locations within Angola.

Angola Warden Burl Cain and the penitentiary's tactical operations team are making arrangements to pick up more Orleans Parish prisoners, Fontenot said.

Angola expects to receive and house nearly 1,900 prisoners from parish jails in the New Orleans area, part of about 6,000 expected to be moved to state corrections facilities, Fontenot said.

"It's a monumental, coordinated effort," the Angola spokeswoman said. "The Jefferson Parish inmates we processed today were very, very polite and very concerned about their families. They will be here a very long time."

Angola officials are contacting church groups that sponsor religious programming at the penitentiary to assist the displaced inmates, as well as other New Orleans-area residents, she said.