When Do You Move Prisoners Out of a Storm’s Path?
Texas waited until after Harvey hit. Now it’s Florida’s turn.
Inmate trustees from the Brevard County Jail work to fill sandbags ahead of Hurricane Irma in Merritt Island, Fla., on Sept. 7, 2017.
Photographer: Brian Blanco/Getty Images North AmericaThis article is for subscribers only.
In the days ahead of Hurricane Harvey, hundreds of Texas prison inmates were forced to fill sandbags the state would use to brace against coming flood waters. In Texas, inmates aren’t paid for their labor—they filled the bags for free. As they were finishing, people across much of the state prepared to get out of harm’s way.
But as the massive system took up station over Houston, prisoners in threatened areas stayed put. It took three days of flooding after Harvey made landfall for the state’s Department of Criminal Justice to decide that almost 6,000 inmates from five facilities needed to be evacuated.