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Abstract
On Saturday, September 4, five days after Katrina came ashore, an estimated 25,000 people continued to wait to be rescued in New Orleans. The Superdome was “hell on earth” according to local officials, and 1700 hospital patients and personnel had been without power, food, water, or sanitation for five days. An article in the Times Picayune offered hope to its readers:
State officials have set up a temporary booking and detention center in New Orleans to deal with those accused of killing, raping, looting and otherwise terrorizing the tens of thousands of people who were trapped in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and awaiting evacuation…It has capacity of 750 people, and is the start of rebuilding and relocating the criminal justice system of New Orleans, officials said. "We are in business," said Louisiana Corrections Secretary Richard Stalder. (Filosa 2005)
In light of the citizens’ of New Orleans multiple needs, why was the jail the first institution to be “in business” after the city’s destruction? In addition, why was the mass media so attentive to the looting and violence in New Orleans during this first week? In order to answer these questions, we must situate them in the context of America’s criminalization of poverty.
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Text available via Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences