Several county jails along Florida’s coast within the path of Hurricane Milton are choosing not to evacuate hundreds of incarcerated individuals as the storm makes landfall on Wednesday.

  • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Break resistant glass with bars or wire and concrete or cinder block walls do make for a sturdy building that can handle a fair amount of hurricane.

    The concern is flooding going to the worst-case scenario and the jail’s elevation being low enough to drown inmates in their cells.

    • hohoho@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Exactly this. It becomes possible that inmates who are incarcerated for minor infractions face a death penalty due to prison mismanagement.

      • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        Or are innocent, or have yet to even see any trial, so have no conviction (a disturbingly high percentage of people in jails and prisons fit those categories).

        I love sharing this link because a lot of this information is little-known, and also the design is elegant: Incarceration in Real Numbers. Be warned, it will suck more of your time than you’ll realise.

        Regardless, nobody should have to drown in a place specifically designed to prevent escape. That’s barbaric.