[StBernard] FEMA Writes Check For New Plaquemines Jail

[Westley Annis]

FEMA Writes Check For New Plaquemines Jail
Sheriff Jeff Hingle Praises New Director Of Local FEMA Office
WDSU.com
updated 8:49 p.m. CT, Tues., Oct . 27, 2009
BELLE CHASSE, La. - WDSU .com

More than four years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Plaquemines
Parish jail, FEMA has issued a big check to rebuild it.

The storm sent a wall of water 35 feet high over the levees and into the
prison. The staff evacuated 425 inmates ahead of the storm and has since
relied on Orleans and Jefferson parishes to house prisoners.

On Tuesday, Sheriff Jeff Hingle recieved a $5.6 million check from FEMA and
the Louisiana Recovery Authority. The money will help rebuild the prison 18
feet higher.

Hingle said the new leader of the New Orleans FEMA office, Tony Russell, is
getting results.

"I've gotta be honest -- Mr. Russell told me in 90 days, 120 days, he would
have the paperwork committed. I'd heard that for over three years but this
man stuck to his word and he got it done," Hingle said.

Russell said his staff worked hard to clear the way for the rebuilding
money.

"We put on the hard hat and we take the lunch pail and we punch in the time
clock, and it's all towards one thing, and that is seeing the recovery move
forward," Russell said.

The new prison should be finished in about three and a half years. It will
also house a parish emergency operations center.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33497675/ns/local_news-new_orleans_la/