The Wrath of Hurricane Katrina

Abstract The chapter describes the devastation to New Orleans and the Louisiana Gulf Coast inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. In Orleans Parish, 71.5 percent of housing units suffered some damage following Hurricane Katrina, with 42 percent severely damaged. The extent of housing destruction was similar in adjacent parishes of the wider New Orleans metropolitan area. Consequently, many prisoners released soon after Katrina could not go back to their old neighborhoods, as they normally would have done. Typically, 75 percent of individuals released from prison return to their former parish of residence. In the first six months after Katrina, just 50 percent returned to their home parish. Thus, this chapter shows that Hurricane Katrina fundamentally altered prevailing geographic patterns of prisoner reentry in Louisiana, affecting residential change and residential mobility for this population.