United States: New York prisoners left to face Irene

September 2, 2011
Issue 

“We are not evacuating Rikers Island,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference on August 26.

Bloomberg announced a host of extreme measures being taken by New York City in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Irene.

These included shutting down the public transit system and the unprecedented mandatory evacuation of about 250,000 people from low-lying areas.

But in response to a reporter’s question, the mayor stated in no uncertain terms (and with more than a hint of annoyance) that one group of New Yorkers on vulnerable ground would be staying put.

New York City is surrounded by small islands and barrier beaches, and a glance at the city’s evacuation map reveals all of them to be in Zone A (already under a mandatory evacuation order) or Zone B — all, that is, save one.

Rikers Island, which lies in the waters between Queens and the Bronx, is not highlighted at all, meaning it is not to be evacuated under any circumstances.

The New York City Department of Corrections’ (NYC DOC) own website says that more than three-quarters of Rikers Island’s 400 acres are built on landfill — which is generally thought to be more vulnerable to natural disasters.

Its 10 jails have a capacity of close to 17,000 inmates. They normally house at least 12,000 people, including juveniles and large numbers of prisoners with mental illness — not to mention pre-trial detainees yet to be convicted of any crime.

We were unable to reach anyone at the NYC DOC for comment, but the ,em>New York Times‘s City Room blog reported: “According to the city’s Department of Corrections, no hypothetical evacuation plan for the roughly 12,000 inmates that the facility may house on a given day even exists.

“Contingencies do exist for smaller-scale relocations from one facility to another.”

For a warning of what can happen to prisoners in a hurricane we need only look back at Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005, and the horrific conditions endured by inmates at Orleans Parish Prison (OPP).

The American Civil Liberties Union released a report in August 2006 titled Abandoned & Abused: Orleans Parish Prisoners in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It said: “[A] culture of neglect was evident in the days before Katrina, when the sheriff declared that the prisoners would remain ‘where they belong’, despite the mayor’s decision to declare the city’s first-ever mandatory evacuation. OPP even accepted prisoners, including juveniles as young as 10, from other facilities to ride out the storm.

“As floodwaters rose in the OPP buildings, power was lost and entire buildings were plunged into darkness. Deputies left their posts wholesale, leaving behind prisoners in locked cells, some standing in sewage-tainted water up to their chests …

“Prisoners went days without food, water and ventilation, and deputies admit that they received no emergency training and were entirely unaware of any evacuation plan.

“Even some prison guards were left locked in at their posts to fend for themselves, unable to provide assistance to prisoners in need.”

[Reprinted from Revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com.]

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