Several jails and prisons in Florida are refusing to evacuate residents ahead of Hurricane Milton, despite being in storm evacuation zones.
The Manatee County Jail, which houses 1,200 people and is located on the southeast side of Tampa Bay and is in the path of the hurricane that roared across the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, will not be evacuated, a police representative said. said the person. The prison told Barron’s on Tuesday.
The media further reported that the prison is located within the Zone A evacuation area. Residents in Zone A could face up to 11 feet of storm surge and should evacuate first, according to Manatee County’s evacuation guide.
“We do not issue evacuation orders lightly,” Manatee County Public Safety Director Jody Fisk said, as reported by Newsweek. “Milton is expected to produce more storm surge than (Hurricane) Helen. So even if you were lucky enough to be there during Helen, I’d say your luck is squeezed with this particular system. I have no intention of doing so.”
Hurricane Helen struck near Tallahassee in northwestern Florida less than two weeks ago, and the impact on Florida and many states further north, especially North Carolina, remains severe.
However, a Manatee County Jail lieutenant told Newsweek that the jail is stocked with sandbags and other supplies and that residents would be moved to the top floor of the jail in the event of flooding. The Guardian was unable to reach prison representatives for comment.
Several prisons and prisons in hurricane-hit states have previously been unable to evacuate inmates during natural disasters, even though they are within mandatory evacuation zones.
In South Carolina, at least two prisons were not evacuated during Hurricane Florence in 2018. “Previously, it was safer to keep the prison there,” a spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Corrections said, the BBC reported.
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hundreds of inmates were left in the Orleans Parish Jail for four days during a terrifying storm. Incarcerated people were left in solitary confinement with no food or water amid rising floodwaters.
Other jails and prisons in Florida have also said they will not be evacuated during Milton. Correctional facilities in Sarasota, Hernando, Pasco, Charlotte and Lee counties will also remain in place during the storm, local newspaper 10 Tampa Bay reported.
Families of incarcerated people fear for the safety of their loved ones.
Julie Reimer, a Florida resident, told 10 Tampa Bay that she has relatives at both Charlotte Correctional Facility and Hardy Correctional Facility.
Reimer, who is being published by her maiden name out of fear of retribution, said she was told by staff at both prisons that she would not be evacuated. “They said their building could withstand a storm like this,” Reimer told 10 Tampa Bay. “They seem to think this storm is not serious.”
“When my son was sentenced, there was no death sentence,” Reimer told Tampa Bay 10.
