MSNBC
The Abrams Report, for September 7
Wednesday Show

Read the excerpt of the transcript regarding New Orleans Bureau of prisons lost records as report by Reporter Dan Abrams MSNBC.

Updated: 11:45 a.m. ET Sept. 8, 2005

ABRAMS: So you have people from FBI, National Guard, New Orleans police, Louisiana state police, all bringing people here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bureau of prisons, well they don‘t arrest people -
yes, every arresting agency brings people to us and we‘re their jail. If we did not have this, they couldn‘t arrest anybody. Where would they put them?
ABRAMS: How are you dealing with the fact that a lot of the records have been lost because of the flooding?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well we took them out. One of them said, I‘m just in here for speeding. I‘m a speeder. We‘re sorry. We don‘t know that. We wish we could get his records and let him go...
ABRAMS: So that guy has...
(CROSSTALK)
ABRAMS: So he‘s been sent to a maximum-security prison...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He‘s been sent to one of our prisons in Louisiana because we don‘t know he‘s a speeder. And his records are wet. They‘re underwater. Three-fourths of them are underwater. We‘re trying to retrieve them. Even today, I have three boats in there to try to get out any more we can get out. Those kind of people don‘t need to be taking up our space.
ABRAMS: But all the people who were in prisons in New Orleans are now being sent to maximum security...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well they‘re sent to prison throughout Louisiana. Some of them are minimum. Some of them are maximum. And some of them are other jails...
ABRAMS: And you got people who were just there...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got people we don‘t need...
ABRAMS: ... probably for a day or two who are now sitting in maximum-security prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That‘s right. And we need to get those records and get them out of there...
ABRAMS: How—what if you can‘t get them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I‘ve got to get them. I ain‘t got any choice. Even if they‘re wet we‘ve got to them. We decided—we all decided this would make an excellent jail...
ABRAMS: What was it about it? What is it about the Greyhound terminal that would make it a good jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It‘s in the city. It‘s got this big building. We thought we could—that‘s our generator from the penitentiary right out back. It will generate as well as a locomotive. We knew we could take where those buses dock and we could put that razor wire, we needed that. We didn‘t have to build a roof, made a perfect jail temporarily.
And it just was a natural. It just worked beautifully, quick and fast so when people talk about all the failures, they‘ve got to look at one little positive. That this one worked and we got a jail quick. But we partnered with Amtrak. That‘s why we named it Greyhound South. Camp Greyhound, that‘s the name of our jail.

(Click link to view full Report) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9256559/