Self-Organizing Man

During Katrina I blogged (here and here) about the situation at Orleans Parish Prison.  Conflicting stories, denials, etc., came out during the stalled evacuation of NOLA. 

Family and friends are still looking for people incarcerated in what is actually a very large jail. Why?

It seems the Sheriff’s Deparment misplaced 328 prisoners during the debacle that was the evacuation of OPP.

We would welcome an explanation for your conclusion that there are no inmates missing from OPP. Your spokesperson, Ms. Renee Lapeyroldrie told us, however, that you have no complete lists of OPP evacuees and their current locations. It is our understanding that the only list of OPP evacuees that you or anyone else has is the one prepared by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, which was recently updated on September 28. Having carefully compared that list to the list of OPP inmates just prior to the Hurricane, we have identified a total of 328 OPP prisoners who are missing from the DOC list, 118 of whom were housed in Templeman 3. We believe it is incumbent on your department to explain why there are so many names missing from the list of evacuated prisoners.  (emphasis mine.)

So wrote Jamie Fellner, Director, U.S. Program, Human Rights Watch to Sheriff Marlin N. Gusman on October 8, 2005.

Words like despicable and disgusting come to mind.  But few Americans know about the OPP disaster.  We have the media (liberal? conservative? gutless curs.) to thank for that.

We also have a demoralized, beat-up and weary public to thank as well.  Prisoners don’t make our radar.  Bring up the issue of queers in prison at any gay cocktail party and cries of "you are a such a downer!" ring out.

I write about the people of OPP to keep a tiny story of people seemingly without hope alive.  I write about the people of OPP to add my voice to a small group of people here and around the world demanding more humane and compassionate treatment of our prisoners.  I write about the people of OPP for the families and friends outside. 

Mostly, though, I write about the people of OPP for me.  I’m a patsy to my own super-fank filled ego.  I’m a publisher!  My yoga practice is awesome!  I rock!

All of which are true.  Yet I can’t help but feel that my freedom remains intertwined with their incarceration.  That how bigots want to dispense with me is linked to the disposal of those 328 people.  We’re all part of an interdependent web.  My freedom only exists in relation to the incarceration of people.  To be freer, truly free, I need to free them as well.