On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the ACLU published Broken Borders: Two Years After Katrina, a report that focuses on the horrifying conditions and scary lack of planning at the Orleans Parish Prison, where after the levees broke, prisoners were left for days, still locked up, in chest-deep water and no help in sight. To accompany the release of the report, we asked videographer Carol Cassidy to interview Katrina survivors in New Orleans. Carol also wrote about what she saw as she traveled through New Orleans in The Huffington Post today:
Just after Katrina, an army veteran is dragged from his home by the far-too-excited National Guard. At gunpoint, they get him handcuffed, face down on concrete, before they accuse him of looting his own home. He is locked up for almost seven months, then freed, as mysteriously as he was taken. Never actually charged.
You can watch the video interviews at www.aclu.org/brokenpromises.