![]() ![]() In the days following Hurricane Katrina's landfall in New Orleans, the pre-trial detainees and prisoners in Orleans Parish Prison were abandoned by correctional staff, and were left in unsafe and unhealthy conditions without food, water, power, or sanitation. Prisoners' Rights | Indigent Defense | Education | Housing | Police Confrontations | Human Rights | Voting Rights | Legislative Lobbying An extensive voting rights initiative helped thousands of displaced persons from Orleans Parish gain access to the ballot box during recent elections.Īt a news conference in Mississippi August 29 commemorating the Katrina anniversary, ACLU human rights attorney Chandra Bhatnagar said, "We are here to deliver one simple message loud and clear, human rights begin at home." In Louisiana, the ACLU has filed numerous official requests regarding the evacuation of prisoners during the storm and has called for an end to racial profiling and disparate treatment of Katrina refugees.The ACLU of Mississippi also helped to stop the eviction of Katrina refugees and is battling dragnet drug sweeps of FEMA camps. In Mississippi, the ACLU is representing displaced students from New Orleans who were singled out for harsh discipline by officials at a local high school. ![]() ![]() The ACLU and its affiliates have conducted fact-finding tours in the affected Gulf Coast states and they are working with other advocates to ensure that civil liberties and human rights concerns are addressed, including those related to housing, education, voting and racial profiling.The ACLU conveneed a panel of human rights victims, which included victims of Hurricane Katrina, and submitted a report to the committee. government accountable for its human rights abuses under internationally recognized norms and treaties. In June, an ACLU delegation traveled to Geneva to ask the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) to hold the U.S.In a comprehensive, book-length report released in August 2006, the ACLU documented the experience of prisoners and guards at the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) in Louisiana, many of whom were trapped in deadly conditions.The group is exploring crucial issues confronting survivors as well as the failures in preparedness and response that must be addressed: In the wake of Katrina, the ACLU formed a working group composed of staff from the ACLU offices in the affected areas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama, and from the National and Washington Legislative Offices. Romero said in a speech shortly after the hurricanes hit, a solution to Katrina requires moral leadership to begin an earnest conversation about why some were left behind in the storm, while others were able to "board the ark."Īs ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. But these victims were, in effect, cast aside when the issues of racism and poverty merged into one, long before a hurricane made landfall on August 29. We saw image after image of poor, black, disenfranchised Americans cast aside. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita seized - and shocked - our national psyche in an unprecedented way. > Photos: Orleans Parish Prison After the Storms > Other Organizations Working on Katrina-Related Issues > ACLU of Louisiana and Mississippi- First-Hand Accounts of the Storm Prison Conditions and Prisoner Abuse After Katrina ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |