Orleans Parish has a prison population problem made worse by Katrina. Three years after the storm, plans to fix some facilities are being scrapped in favor of a wrecking ball.

"It seems we're stuck in the Katrina pothole," said Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman.

WWL-TV

One of the buildings being razed at the Orleans Parish Prison.

There is progress -- buildings are being demolished, some property is cleared for new construction, some buildings are fully restored and others, like the Orleans Parish Prison, are well on the way.

But the mix of other city-owned and law enforcement-owned buildings, which once held 7,200 prison beds, which Sheriff Gusman said were too many, now houses only 2,600 beds. He says that's about 1,000 short of what's needed.

"Our population right now is a population awaiting trial, so we are not holding anybody we don't absolutely have to hold in this parish," he said.

It is a strain on the system that may have hit yet another roadblock to recovery.

Three years ago, the city's experts slated two buildings for repairs, each of which would add 1,000 prison beds. Now, the city says they must be demolished because the damages were far greater than originally estimated.

"Prisons are highly complex buildings, they have a lot of electronics and mechanical type systems," said Cynthia Sylvain-Lear, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of New Orleans. "When you factor in those costs -- and it's not just the floors that flooded -- those relate to every floor in the building that then needs renovation," she said.

Gusman says Orleans Parish has turned to the state since Katrina to help house overflow prisoners, but the parish foots the bill for transportation, fuel, manpower and security to move prisoners back and forth, about an hour and a half away.

The city admits, to date, it has been a struggle, but insists making an appeal to FEMA for money to rebuild is backed up by their latest evaluations and investigations, and is worth the ongoing delays.