{{Short description|Temporary detention center}} {{Infobox prison | name = Camp Greyhound | image = | caption = | location = New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | status = Closed | opened = September 2005 | closed = October 2005 | managed_by = Louisiana Department of Corrections | population = 220 (at peak) | city = New Orleans | county = Orleans Parish | state = Louisiana | country = United States }}
'''Camp Greyhound''' is the nickname<ref name=nola10/> of a temporary makeshift jail at the Greyhound Bus station next to the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal that was operated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina of August 29, 2005.<ref name=wp05>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/sep/9/20050909-122226-7515r/ |title='Camp Greyhound' home to 220 looting suspects| publisher=The Washington Times|date=September 9, 2005 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref>
== Operation == The construction of Camp Greyhound by the Louisiana Department of Corrections<ref name="garrett">Brandon L. Garrett & Tania Tetlow, Criminal Justice Collapse: The Constitution After Hurricane Katrina, 56 Duke Law Journal 127-178 (2006) [https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol56/iss1/4]</ref> was one of the top priorities in the rebuilding of New Orleans.<ref name="sideris">Marina Sideris, Amnesty Working Group: Amnesty for Prisoners of Katrina. Report of the Critical Resistance, 2007, pages 8-12 [https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN20.doc]</ref> Sixteen cages of chain-link fencing topped with razor wire were erected at the bus station under the canopies to house up to 700 people. Work was done by prisoners from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola under the direction of Burl Cain. Most suspects had been arrested for looting, while others were detained for curfew violation, vehicle theft, intoxication, or resisting arrest.<ref name=sideris/> By September 8, nine inmates had been incarcerated for attempted murder.<ref name=garrett/>
An outdoor cage could hold about 45 people. There was no furniture, and inmates had to sleep on the asphalt ground of the bus station without mattresses, using an open portable toilet.<ref name=usatoday05>{{cite news|author=Kevin Johnson|title='Camp Greyhound' outpost of law and order|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-08-camp-greyhound_x.htm|access-date=March 18, 2018|newspaper=USA Today|date=8 September 2005}}</ref><ref name=npr05>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4838671 |author=Jeff Brady |title=New Orleans Housing Prisoners in Bus Station | publisher=National Public Radio |date=September 9, 2005 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> Food consisted of military issued meals.<ref name=usatoday05/> The facility was fully lit at night with electric power generated by an Amtrak engine running 24 hours.<ref name=npr05/> Inmates were guarded by officers from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.<ref name=guardian10/> At least five mercenary companies were enlisted to round up "prisoners" and keep the jail running.<ref name=jilani>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/may/17/hurricanekatrina-louisiana |author=Seema Jilani |title=Haunted by the nightmare of Katrina |work=The Guardian |date=May 17, 2011 |access-date=March 20, 2018}}</ref> The camp was protected by the National Guard on the outside.<ref name=npr05/>
The jail had a processing center<ref name=fox05>{{cite news| url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/new-orleans-makeshift-jail |author=Greta van Susteren, Burl Cain |title=New Orleans' Makeshift Jail| publisher=Fox News |date=September 8, 2005 |access-date=March 18, 2018}}</ref> where inmates were photographed and fingerprinted. The single public defender was unable to offer individual advice; the only options were to plead guilty and agree to community service, or to be sent to a permanent facility and wait a minimum of 21 days for further processing.<ref name=sideris/> In the latter case, inmates were bused to permanent facilities.
The first inmates were apparently placed into the facility on Monday, September 5, 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4163081.html |title=At the Train Station, New Orleans' Newest Jail is Open For Business |newspaper=KOMO-TV |date=September 6, 2005 |access-date=July 6, 2014 |location=New Orleans, Louisiana |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119182853/http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4163081.html |archive-date=November 19, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Clad in prison-orange, they were not allowed to notify relatives or lawyers, and no phone calls were permitted. A report by ''The Washington Times'' from September 9, 2005, indicated that over 220 people suspected of looting were at Camp Greyhound at that time.<ref name=wp05/>
Camp Greyhound operated for about six weeks<ref name=sideris/> or two months.<ref name=garrett/>
== Denial of constitutional rights == The collapse of the judicial system after the hurricane affected people held at Camp Greyhound.<ref name=garrett/> About 1,200 people, mostly African-Americans, passed through the jail, and regular judicial proceedings were not followed, violating habeas corpus rights.<ref name=guardian10>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/11/dave-eggers-zeitoun-hurricane-katrina |author=Ed Pilkington |title=The amazing true story of Zeitoun| work=The Guardian |date=March 11, 2010 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref><ref name=nola10>{{cite news |url=http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/10/justice_system_failings_in_the.html| author=Brendan McCarthy| title=Justice system failings in wake of Hurricane Katrina left wounds that remain unhealed| publisher=The Times-Picayune |date=June 23, 2010 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> By the end of its operation, exaggerated reports of unrest, looting, and violence started to be revised and retracted.<ref name=lat05>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-sep-27-na-rumors27-story.html| title=Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy |newspaper=LA Times| date= September 27, 2005| author=Susannah Rosenblatt, James Rainey | access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://mronline.org/2005/09/09/we-went-into-the-mall-and-began-looting-a-letter-on-race-class-and-surviving-the-hurricane/ |author=Peter Berkowitz |title="We Went into the Mall and Began 'Looting'": A Letter on Race, Class, and Surviving the Hurricane |publisher=Monthly Report online |date=September 9, 2005 |access-date=March 18, 2018}}</ref> Indeed, a small number of NOPD officers were reported to have participated in the looting.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/30/nopd.looting/ |title=Witnesses: New Orleans cops took Rolex watches, jewelry |publisher=CNN |date=September 25, 2005 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref>
Reports emerged indicating innocent people being incarcerated for a prolonged time; first at Camp Greyhound and then transferred to outside prisons. James Terry was arrested for "looting" his own apartment. He spent time at Camp Greyhound and then at a permanent jail without ever having access to a lawyer, being charged with a crime, or having a court hearing before his eventual release seven months later.<ref name=nola10/> Pedro Parra-Sanchez went through Camp Greyhound on October 13, 2005, and disappeared in the penal system for 13 months.<ref name=nola10/> Abdulrahman Zeitoun's case was documented in the eponymous book by David Eggers. He was released after one month, while his companions were held five, six, and eight months more, all without due process.<ref name=nola10/> Another inmate, Ashton O'Dwyer, an attorney, claimed that he was pepper-sprayed and shot with beanbag rounds while in custody. He was never charged with a crime, and his lawsuit regarding his incarceration was unsuccessful.<ref name=NOA16>{{cite news| url=http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/opinion/james_gill/article_d90a9912-acd6-11e6-860d-a7c0619efdb8.html |author=James Gill| title=James Gill: Still fighting Hurricane Katrina's demons |publisher=New Orleans Advocate| date=November 20, 2016 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> In contrast, a jury later awarded $650,000 to two tourists who had been caught in the system.<ref name=ns11/>
== Legacy == In 2009, Dan Berger argued that journalistic routines and uncritical reporting by the media "legitimated punishment as disaster policy" and "suggested militarized policing and imprisonment as fundamental to restore order".<ref name=berger>{{cite journal|author=Dan Berger| title= Constructing crime, framing disaster. Routines of criminalization and crisis in Hurricane Katrina |journal = Punishment & Society| volume= 11 | issue= 4 | pages= 491–510 |date=August 14, 2009 |doi=10.1177/1462474509341139| s2cid= 143933941 }}</ref> In 2011, James Fox from the New Statesman opined that Camp Greyhound was "known for organized brutality, a little-known, near-exact facsimile of Guantanamo Bay".<ref name=ns11>{{cite web |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/north-america/2011/04/orleans-city-jail-police| author=James Fox |title=No limits to the law in NoLa| publisher=New Statesman| date=April 14, 2011 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|2}}
New Orleans Category:Detention centers Category:Detention centers for extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:2005 in Louisiana Hurricane Category:Parish jails in Louisiana Category:Greyhound Lines