Angola and the 2011 Floods
01/19/2012
Angola and the 2011 Floods: The Largest Maximum Security Prison Evacuation in American History
When the spring 2011 Mississippi River flooding threatened the 68-foot levies at Angola, prison officials and staff were faced with the task of evacuating their population of 5200 offenders. Not only was this the largest prison evacuation in American history, but the most dangerous. Angola houses almost entirely life-term inmates, more maximum-security inmates than any other U.S. facility.
“No one is here with less than a 50-year sentence,” explained Angola Warden Burt Cain in his address to IDCE2012 January 19 in New Orleans.
But Warden Cain and his staff had a rock-solid plan.
“The key is no surprises,” he told his audience of emergency managers. Based on their experience with the flooding of 1997 then with Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, the plan had been revised and refined to a clear-cut list of activities in accordance with each triggering event. And even more important than having a plan, Cain noted, was sticking to it in every detail.
While eventually the release of waters at spillways above Angola prevented waters from topping its levies, the waters reached such heights that several phases of the evacuation plan were implemented, including a phase one movement of medically fragile offenders, along with their medications and nursing staff, and subsequently all but the most violent and dangerous offenders, by buses to other prisons around the state. A final phase would have moved death-row inmates to higher ground on the prison property to be housed in tents.
The plan worked for three reasons, Cain explained:
• The instructions were clear-cut – nothing vague or unaddressed.
• The plan was well-written so that it was easy to understand. As well, the meetings to discuss implementation of the plan were large, including many staff members, from top to bottom, so that as many people as possible got their information first-hand.
• The plan was carried out in detail – no deviations from the plan.
These seemingly simple, but critically important considerations, Cain noted, apply to virtually any emergency situation and for any emergency management team.
