If a major disaster hits, will people in prison be screwed?

[Black Blade]

If a major disaster hits, will people in prison be screwed?

Snippit:

A life-threatening disaster looms ominously over you, your friends, family, and community. As you pack up your essentials, and bug out or head into a shelter, what happens to those who are locked up in your local prisons?

Most prisons roll out disaster management plans, but what happens when they fail? Let's take at the impact of disasters in New Orleans and Haiti, how a breakdown of contingency plans led to tragic outcomes — and what might happen in the most extreme disaster scenarios.

Prison Disaster Plan Failures

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Orleans Parish Prison held over 8,000 prisoners, with a large number of the prisoners incarcerated pre-trial, not yet convicted of any crime.

After the evacuation of the city, generators ran and guards stood post in the early days following Hurricane Katrina, but as guards evacuated, the prison population found itself locked in their cells, wading in chest high in sewage contaminated flood water.

In the face of Hurricane Irene, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to evacuate Rikers Island, home to over 12,000 inmates, including juvenile detainees and prisoners with severe mental illnesses. The New York Times later revealed that no evacuation contingency plan exists for Rikers Island.

Prison disaster management plans are now in place in most cases, with of lower threat, nonviolent inmates to assist guard. In the state of California, inmates with a non-violent background and a lack of sexual offenses are often trained to assist in battling fires, both inside of the prison and in communities should a wildfire occur. New Zealand officials are fighting for the right to include inmates as part of a disaster safety initiative as well.

Releasing inmates

If a society shattering disaster occurred, either natural or man-made, would the prisoners ever be voluntarily released? And if prisoners are released, do the powers that be release lower level prisoners first, then move down the line? Do you release inmates with a history with violent crimes, or those who are sentenced to die?

No official statements from U.S. officials exist concerning a policy leading to the release of inmates in the wake of a large scale crisis. A historical precedent exists for not releasing prisoners, even in the face of impending death. In 1931, officials at the Ohio State Penitentiary refused to release or move inmates during a prison fire, leading to the deaths of over 300 inmates.

Continued: If a major disaster hits, will people in prison be screwed?


Black Blade: I think in a SHTF scenario that prisoners are royally screwed.

[dutigaf]

ok... you asked...


WHO CARES! let them die. we waste waaay too much time/money/resources on people who are doing nothing but using and depleting us.

bullets are way cheaper.

let them all die or fend for themselves. they should be the absolute LAST thing we worry about...

rapists, robbers, murders, molesters all have a very uncanny knack for survival.. no need for us to waste any time or effort on them.

[moleman]

+1, I have better things to worry about.

[MUSIBIKE]

WHO CARES!

[trickyrick]

sdk, tell us how you really feel...lol. i do agree for the most part tho.
from ron white. "I'm from Texas and in Texas we have the death penalty and we use it. That's right, if you come to Texas and kill somebody, we will kill you back. That's our policy. Right now there's a bill in the Texas legislature that would speed up the execution process of those convicted of a heinous crime with more than three credible witnesses. If more than three people saw you do what you did you don't sit on death row for 15 years Jack, you go straight to the front of the line. Other states are trying to abolish the death penalty. My state's puttin in an express lane."
Ron White- Blue Collar Comedy Tour

[4thIDvet]

By an act of God.. They will all head too D.C. and run the country.
Only difference between those behind bars and the criminals up there, is they have no bars in front of them.

[sniper69]

The question to ask, is that if they somehow get out - how will that effect where you, your family, etc are at? Will they try to come for your supplies, band together for some mayhem, etc? One must think of the various possibilities and scenarios.

[4thIDvet]

That is a very good question. When you consider the U.S. has one of the largest ratios of prisoners to population.
Private industry wants more in on the business, it has to be a money maker.
"If they escaped"
First thing is they need weapons.
Second your daughters.
Now time too eat.
It takes thousands of man hours and massive manpower, too find one escaped prisoner.
All prisoners are not in for acts of violence.
Good post.
It sure would be a mess out there.

[dutigaf]

sorry had to spend the weekend "prisoner proofing" my place.... :-)

nope not all prisoners committed acts of violence.

but i dont give two figs at a flying donut about that or molesters, druggies, thieves, con artists, politicians, ho's, or religious zealots either.

violent or not. they are using up too many of "my" resources for housing, food, clothing and taking care of their worthless asses already.

they can all eat dirt and die. and honestly hope they all die very soon cause im plum out of money, care or "give a crap" for them.

death is still the most effective rehab & deterrent out there.


does that sound harsh? depends on how you look at it.

we have 10's of thousands of homeless, orphaned, sick, starving children in this country and we waste trillions of dollars taking better care of the trash/criminals so that they can be "better criminals" when/if they get out.

nope dont sound harsh enough to me. kill them all & cut the losses.

[Sprat]

I beg to ask again, Sean tell us how you really feel and thanks for expressing my thoughts it saves me time

sprat