Giving Compass' Take:
- Michelle Zenarosa brings to light how Hurricane Milton is threatening prisons and the lives of incarcerated people in Florida.
- How can donors help ensure that incarcerated people, who are often overlooked during natural disasters, receive adequate protection and resources?
- Learn more about disaster relief and recovery and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on disaster philanthropy.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, concern grows not just for coastal residents, but for a often-overlooked population: prison inmates. Recent history has shown that incarcerated individuals face heightened risks and challenges when natural disasters strike, often with little recourse or ability to ensure their own safety. Knowing this, it is more than fair to make the assessment that Hurricane Milton threatens prisons disproportionately.
Hurricane Milton, currently a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 145 mph, is expected to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast late Wednesday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated, “We are bracing and prepared to receive a major hit.” For prison officials, this presents a critical decision point: evacuate and risk security issues, or shelter in place and potentially endanger inmates.
Despite the looming threat, several Florida jails and prisons are refusing to evacuate their residents ahead of Hurricane Milton, even though they are located in evacuation zones. Manatee county jail, which houses 1,200 incarcerated people and is located in the path of the hurricane, will not be evacuating despite falling within the Zone A evacuation area. Zone A could face a storm surge of up to 11 feet and is supposed to be evacuated first, according to the Manatee county evacuation guide.
Other facilities in Sarasota, Hernando, Pasco, Charlotte, and Lee counties have also announced they will remain in place during the storm. This decision has left family members of incarcerated individuals deeply concerned about their loved ones’ safety due to Hurricane Milton threatening prisons.
Sheriff Tommy Ford of Bay County, who chairs the Florida Sheriffs Task Force, explained some of the challenges in evacuating large jails to the New York Times: “Finding housing for 1,000-plus inmates gets very difficult, and transportation raises safety concerns. So it may be better to shelter in place,” he said. “Most jails are very hardened facilities.”
Julie Reimer, who has relatives in both the Charlotte and Hardee correctional institutions, expressed her fears to 10 Tampa Bay. “When my son was sentenced, he was not given a death sentence,” she said.
Read the full article about Hurricane Milton threatening prisons by Michelle Zenarosa at Reckon.