The Prison City of New Orleans: Law's Responses to the Disaster of Hurricane Katrina

• Published date: 29 October 2012
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-6136(2012)0000017013
• Date: 29 October 2012
• Pages: 203-225
• Author: Alicia J. Ferrara,Peter G. Stillman,Adelaide H. Villmoare

THE PRISON CITY OF NEW

ORLEANS: LAW’S RESPONSES

TO THE DISASTER OF HURRICANE

KATRINA

Alicia J. Ferrara, Peter G. Stillman and

Adelaide H. Villmoare

ABSTRACT

Purpose This study examines the legal system’s responses to the

disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans particu-

larly in the first two weeks after the storm. During this period, issues of

law and order were a primary concern of government decision makers,

and these issues framed those of rescue of and aid to the survivors.

Approach The chapter draws on the analytic concept of the carceral

state as it is publicly displayed in official reactions to disaster rumors of

disorder and violence. The empirical focus is on policing activity and on

events at the Orleans Parish Prison and Camp Greyhound, a temporary

detention center established after the storm.

Findings Largely unfounded rumors of disorder, including roaming

gangs, extensive looting, rape, and murder, fueled the emphasis on law

Disasters, Hazards and Law

Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Volume 17, 203225

Copyright r2012 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited

All rights of reproduction in any form reserved

ISSN: 1521-6136/doi:10.1108/S1521-6136(2012)0000017013

203

and order and policing and carceral decisions of officials. Actions

intended to facilitate an individual’s survival or comfort or evacuation

were often treated as criminal. New Orleans became a prison city.

Originality The analysis develops the concept of a “prison city” as an

embodiment of the carceral state and suggests that the carceral state

prompts and reinforces rumors about disorder and the tendency to desig-

nate policing and incarceration as essential first responses to disasters in

the United States.

A STORY

1

When a voluntary evacuation was issued ahead of Hurricane Katrina on

August 27, 2005, Abdulrahman Zeitoun decided to remain in New

Orleans. After the levees failed, he set out down the flooded streets in a

canoe each day to help the stranded. One day Zeitoun encountered an

elderly couple trapped in their home. Knowing he would need assistance

to evacuate them, he paddled to Memorial Medical Center, where

National Guard soldiers were stationed. When Zeitoun approached the

soldiers, they raised their guns and ordered him not to come any closer.

When he explained that he simply needed their help, they refused. He

wondered: “What were they doing in the city, if not helping to evacuate

people?” (Eggers, 2009, p. 144).

That question would be answered on September 6, when Zeitoun was

arrested at gunpoint inside a rental property he owned, on the presump-

tion of looting and drug dealing. Though he was prepared to show proof

of his ownership, the group of heavily armed police and military officials

did not give him a chance to do so, instead ordering him to “get in the

boat” (Eggers, 2009, p. 216). Once inside the boat, Zeitoun was immedi-

ately thrown to the floor, his arms and legs bound together with plastic

ties. He never read his rights, nor was he given a reason for his arrest.

When he pressed them for an explanation, one officer eventually replied,

“I don’t know... I’m from Indiana” (Eggers, 2009, p. 219).

Initially, Zeitoun was taken to Camp Greyhound, where he was accused

of terrorism, endured physical and verbal abuses, and was denied basic

rights such as access to an attorney and a phone call to his family. Several

days later, he was transferred to the Elayn Hunt Correctional Facility, a

maximum-security prison in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, where he would be

held for almost three weeks. Although initially relieved to be leaving Camp

204 ALICIA J. FERRARA ET AL.