In areas where people are being ordered to leave as Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, those incarcerated in jails have no choice but to stay.

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
    8•9 months 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
      46•9 months 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
        36•9 months 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
          14•9 months 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
      3•9 months 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?