Several county jails along Florida’s coast within the path of Hurricane Milton are choosing not to evacuate hundreds of incarcerated individuals as the storm makes landfall on Wednesday.

  • Today@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    They do have hurricane resistant buildings - shelters, hospitals, zoos, emergency management offices, etc. i would assume jails are the same. Police don’t all evacuate.

    • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Break resistant glass with bars or wire and concrete or cinder block walls do make for a sturdy building that can handle a fair amount of hurricane.

      The concern is flooding going to the worst-case scenario and the jail’s elevation being low enough to drown inmates in their cells.

      • hohoho@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Exactly this. It becomes possible that inmates who are incarcerated for minor infractions face a death penalty due to prison mismanagement.

        • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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          1 month ago

          Or are innocent, or have yet to even see any trial, so have no conviction (a disturbingly high percentage of people in jails and prisons fit those categories).

          I love sharing this link because a lot of this information is little-known, and also the design is elegant: Incarceration in Real Numbers. Be warned, it will suck more of your time than you’ll realise.

          Regardless, nobody should have to drown in a place specifically designed to prevent escape. That’s barbaric.

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      Don’t assume. But even if it were magically possible for all jail buildings to be safe from wind and water, what happens when an inmate has a heart attack? Can they go to the ER, or will they die?