No Ordinary Heroes

Demaree Inglese, Diana G. Gallagher

On the night of August 27, 2005, Dr. Demaree Inglese was one of many New Orleans residents convinced that approaching Hurricane Katrina would pass with minimal impact. The next few days’ events would prove how mistaken they all were, and Dr. Inglese, medical director of the New Orleans city jail, would have to lead his staff through a crisis of deadly proportions. With compelling, shocking detail, No Ordinary Heroes recounts the drama that unfolded at the jail between August 26 and September 2, 2005. Faced with a prison compound that administrators had refused to evacuate, Dr. Inglese and his colleagues—deputies, nurses, and doctors—had a monumental disaster on their hands. Massive flooding transformed the sprawling jail complex into an island in the crippled city. Without power or running water, and with food stores dwindling, conditions at the jail deteriorated rapidly as temperatures inside soared in the blistering summer heat. Cut off from help, the medical staff struggled to care for thousands of inmates, staff, and neighborhood residents while deputies struggled to maintain order. Through it all loomed the constant menace of the prison inmates, many of them desperate to survive or possibly escape. Rioting prisoners, burning buildings, SWAT team rescues, and medical emergencies all conspired to create a storm within a storm: a trial weathered by the courage and perseverance of a dedicated few who worked to the breaking point and beyond.Written with the taut suspense of a gripping thriller, No Ordinary Heroes vividly re-creates seven days that felt like an eternity to a handful of abandoned heroes—and is a stark, revealing testament to the power of humanitarian commitment in the most dire circumstances.