Finally, four days after the fire began, officials evacuated the prison. However, even as state environmental monitors collected evidence of elevated levels of volatile organic compounds and particulate matter in the air \u2014 both of which can cause health problems \u2014 the evacuees were not allowed to see medical staff until well after their return to Laborde on January 27, according to three people interviewed.<\/p>\n
When they arrived at a previously shuttered part of Allen Correctional Center, \u201cEveryone was trying to see the nurse,\u201d recalled 29-year-old Rondell Delaney. \u201cThey said it\u2019s too many people.\u201d Watts said a nurse took the names of people with health impacts, but there was no follow-up.<\/p>\n
Upon returning, \u201cI told them I\u2019m having chest pain and a hard time talking,\u201d Delaney recalled. Prison staffers told him the nurses were backlogged and he should sign up for sick call, which costs $3 or $6 for emergencies. He estimated another two weeks passed before he was allowed to see a medical professional. Even then, \u201cAll they did was check our temperature and see if we had Covid.\u201d A month after the fire began, Delaney\u2019s voice was still hoarse. Delaney, Moore, and Watts were all still dealing with migraine headaches \u2014 something Moore said he\u2019d never experienced before.<\/p>\n
Although Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Chuck Carr Brown declared<\/a> the tire fire and subsequent cleanup an emergency on February 8, people incarcerated at the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center say it didn\u2019t translate into robust health checks for the 1,500 people who were locked inside next to the tire fire.<\/p>\n Ken Pastorick, communications director for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, denied that medical attention was inadequate. \u201cA handful of prisoners who claimed health issues with the smoke were examined and cleared by the prison\u2019s medical staff,\u201d he said. \u201cEmployees effectively and efficiently executed the evacuation and return of prisoners without incident.\u201d<\/p>\n To environmental experts, the burning tires represent a collision of failures by two state agencies that are supposed to protect the health of Louisiana\u2019s most vulnerable people: the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.<\/p>\n Wilma Subra, an environmental scientist who has long worked<\/a> with Louisiana communities<\/a> coping with the health impacts of industrial disasters and pollution<\/a>, said incarceration made a bad situation even worse. She surmised, \u201cThe evacuation would have happened earlier had it not been a prison.\u201d<\/p>\n Pastorick replied, \u201cEvacuating an entire prison is very rare, not something to take lightly, and must be fully warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n Soon after the tires went up in flames, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality parked its Mobile Air Monitoring Laboratory, a big white van full of environmental sensors, on the northeast corner of the prison, between the fire and Laborde. The state scientists were looking especially for types of particulate matter so small they can lodge in people\u2019s lungs and bloodstream, known as PM10 and PM2.5.<\/p>\n On January 17, the first day that the mobile laboratory delivered results, PM2.5 levels spiked to 97.5 micrograms per cubic meter, a level Kimberly Terrell, staff scientist and director of community engagement at the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic in New Orleans said was concerning and likely representative of pollution levels for those downwind. \u201cVery high levels of PM2.5 like this are definitely known to trigger asthma events and cause difficulty breathing. They have acute, immediate impacts,\u201d she said. For the next two days, the lab\u2019s readings were lower.<\/p>\n On the fifth day, \u201cThe wind direction shifted and significant quantities of smoke generated by the fire inundated the Correctional Center,\u201d LDEQ\u2019s declaration of emergency says. \u201cThe smoke generated by the fire was so significant that visibility was greatly impaired near the vicinity of the Site.\u201d<\/p>\n Guards lined up Laborde\u2019s prisoners outside in the bad air to wait for evacuation, according to two of the incarcerated people interviewed. People who had tested positive for Covid-19 were loaded onto buses alongside everyone else.<\/p>\n Yet despite the dire conditions, the state\u2019s lab equipment again recorded relatively low levels of pollution. It wasn\u2019t because the air was clear. \u201cThe MAML was likely outside the edge of the smoke plume,\u201d Langley said. Complicating matters further, the day before the evacuation, the Mobile Air Monitoring Laboratory\u2019s power generator broke down, and LDEQ had to bring in a new van, which it placed in the same spot.<\/p>\n Issues like this are typical, Subra said. \u201cFrequently they can\u2019t put the MAML in the best place to monitor,\u201d she said. Plus, \u201cIt\u2019s had a history of breaking down.\u201d<\/p>\n It’s also unclear what MAML readings would have triggered a response. Langley told The Intercept that readings above 15 parts per million for an extended period of time would be \u201cconcerning,\u201d and a single reading of 100 would be cause for action. \u201cIf any receptors were within an area with readings that high, a shelter in place might be ordered,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Of course, the standard measurement for PM2.5 pollution data \u2014 and the measurement that LDEQ used for the MAML data it posted online \u2014 is micrograms per cubic meters, not parts per million. <\/p>\n Terrell said this kind of problem, too, is typical of LDEQ. \u201cYes, there was monitoring, but we are missing very basic information.\u201d<\/p>\n The full spectrum of health impacts is difficult to determine without learning which chemicals were in the smoke. The LDEQ used canisters as well as handheld monitors to determine levels of volatile organic compounds, some of which are linked to cancers. Although LDEQ\u2019s emergency declaration stated that they detected elevated levels of VOCs, Langley said he could not say which compounds his agency detected. He pointed to a laboratory backlog. Satellite view of Louisiana’s Raymond Laborde Correctional Center and Cottonport Monofill tire processor and landfill, which is located right next to the correctional center.<\/p>\n \nScreenshot: Google Map<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Although the state fire marshal has not determined the fire\u2019s cause, Langley said that environmental violations, documented by LDEQ for years, likely made things worse. \u201cIf a fire starts at a tire facility, the configuration of the tire stacks and presence of debris can contribute to the severity of the fire,\u201d he said. \u201cThe tires were piled as high as 50 feet in areas and the piles were up to 100 yards wide. The area that burned did not have the proper spacing to provide fire breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n Beginning in 2010, LDEQ filed three separate compliance orders<\/a> against Cottonport Monofill, including a 2013 order describing tires piled too high and too close together, with fire lanes that were too narrow. The problems went unresolved as the years ticked by.<\/p>\n \u201cDEQ is good at going out and inspecting sites, especially when someone complains,\u201d said Subra. \u201cThey write up compliance orders, and they never get enforced.\u201d<\/p>\n Cottonport Monofill filed for bankruptcy in 2015, a month after it applied to LDEQ for a new permit to operate. Despite the fact that the company was in bankruptcy court and still had an outstanding compliance order from 2013, LDEQ granted<\/a> the new permit.<\/p>\n In 2019, the environmental agency issued another compliance order<\/a> stating that the company failed to properly clean up the site, a process that would have involved shredding all the tires into chips and capping the landfill with clay. Instead, 100,000 tires remained, piled several times higher than the 10 feet allowed. Hydraulic fluid was spilled on the ground. The order demanded the facility\u2019s owners take action within 30 days, stating that penalties of $32,500 per day were on the line. However, the situation was unchanged when inspectors returned that December<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bankruptcy wasn\u2019t enough for LDEQ to deny Cottonport Monofill\u2019s permit, but it was enough for the agency to decide that no penalty should apply. \u201cDue to the bankruptcy and inoperable status of the Respondent, the Department has not issued penalties to Cottonport Monofill LLC,\u201d said Langley, over email.\u00a0\u201cGross Revenues of the Respondent is one of the Factors the Department has to consider.\u201d<\/p>\n It’s unclear who LDEQ expects to pay for the fire damage and the remaining tire debris. Langley said he couldn\u2019t comment on liability. The agency\u2019s inspection reports say First Guaranty Bank possessed the property after the bankruptcy. Yet bank Vice President Evan Singer denied to The Intercept that the bank is the owner or that it has responsibility for cleaning up the tire landfill.<\/p>\n Avoyelles Parish also has a stake in the property. Land records<\/a> from the parish assessor\u2019s office say the parish bought the property in a 2020 tax sale. However, Joey Frank, director of the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said that the rules around tax sales mean the parish isn\u2019t liable for the cleanup either.<\/p>\n According to the bank, the site is still owned by Ward Enterprises LLC. Listed in the permit as the facility\u2019s owner is Lloyd D. Ward<\/a>, a former Maytag CEO who was forced to resign<\/a> as CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2003 amid allegations of ethics violations. Ward did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n LDEQ\u2019s failure to assure Cottonport Monofill resolved its environmental violations before it disappeared tracks with Louisiana\u2019s recent history. Under former Gov. Bobby Jindal, funding for LDEQ was dramatically slashed<\/a>, leaving the agency with a skeleton staff and weakened environmental enforcement. \u201cDEQ does not issue enforcement actions in a timely manner,\u201d stated a January 2021 report<\/a> from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, focusing on air quality violations.<\/p>\n For now, the state is on the hook for the fire\u2019s expenses. \u201cThe declaration of emergency allowed LDEQ to direct state resources to address the fire and control the pollution resulting from the fire,\u201d including 800 barrels of a type of oil produced when tires burn, said Langley.<\/p>\n The tire fire wasn\u2019t the only environmental problem Moore has experienced at the Laborde Correctional Center. According to The Intercept\u2019s Climate and Punishment<\/a> investigation, the prison is located in a county that has historically seen 110 days annually with a heat index over 90 degrees and 10 days over 105 degrees. By 2100, as the climate crisis deepens, the county will likely see as many as two months annually over 105, a level the National Weather Service considers dangerous.<\/p>\n Moore has witnessed people pass out from the heat. \u201cIn the summer you\u2019re dancing with the devil. In the winter, there\u2019s no heat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nAir Monitoring Dysfunction<\/h2>\n
\u201cVery high levels of PM2.5 like this are definitely known to trigger asthma events and cause difficulty breathing.\u201d<\/blockquote><\/p>\n
\n![\"Satellite](\"https:\/\/prod01-cdn05.cdn.firstlook.org\/wp-uploads\/sites\/1\/2022\/03\/google-earth-Raymond-Laborde-Correctional-Center-theintercept-1024x683.jpg\")
\nYears of Violations<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Hunting for Accountability<\/h2>\n
Dancing With the Devil in Louisiana Prison<\/h2>\n