[JURIST] Human Rights Watch said Thursday that hundreds of individuals accused of minor crimes in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] struck are still detained in temporary local correctional facilities, awaiting a hearing before a judge. The chaos in the days after the hurricane forced parish prisons to be evacuated and courthouses to be closed. One parish prison is said to have erupted in violence after guards fled [JURIST report] after the storm. HRW pointed out that six weeks after Katrina struck New Orleans, many of those accused of minor crimes would under normal circumstances already have served their sentences had they been convicted; instead, they are locked up around the state and separated from their families who are themselves struggling to recover. Read the HRW press release and review collected testimony from arrestees and