DOC evacuating 1,500 inmates from Cottonport prison

Louisiana Department of Corrections will evacuate 1,500 inmates at Raymond Laborde Correctional Center today (Jan. 20) due to smoke from a fire at the closed Cottonport Monofil plant, located just north of the prison. The inmates will be sent to "an undisclosed location," and not necessarily the large, nearby state penitentiary at Angola.

A DOC spokesman said a cold front moving in from the north brought winds that blew the thick smoke from the tire fire directly into the prison. Before the north winds entered the picture, the plan was to let the fire in a 60-x-60-ft. tire pit burn itself out. The fire began Sunday (Jan. 16).

Avoyelles Parish Emergency Preparedness Director Joey Frank said more firefighters were sent to the closed plant to try to extinguish the fire and end the smoke threat.

The Department of Environmental Quality has sent personnel and equipment to Laborde Correctional and around the monofil plant to monitor air quality.

A joint-agency press release on the situation will be issued later today from the DOC, DEQ and State Fire Marshal's Office.