ACLU alleges post-Katrina jail horrors

Other deputies abandoned prisoners in locked cells, where some were standing in sewage-tainted water up to their chests, according to the report.

Tom Jawetz, litigation fellow for the ACLU's National Prison Project, said the sheriff's office was ``completely unprepared for the storm."

``The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals did more for its 263 stray pets than the sheriff did for the more than 6,500 men, women, and children left in his care," Jawetz said.

A spokeswoman for Sheriff Marlin Gusman said the department had not seen the report and had no immediate comment.

Gusman has acknowledged that a loss of electricity and no working toilets created a foul atmosphere. He has denied, however, that prisoners were not fed. He said prisoners, his staff, and their families had food from the prison, plus ready-to-eat meals supplied by the military.

There were no confirmed deaths at the prison, the report said, though it detailed stories of two inmates with health problems who died after being transferred out.

It took three days to remove inmates after the storm hit on Aug. 29, prison authorities have said. The prison has reopened but now holds only about 1,800 inmates. Others are incarcerated at 38 state and local lockups in Louisiana.