Posts tagged prisoners.

Above: Plan of NYC’s evacuation plan. Unlike the yellow areas, Riker’s Island will not be evacuated. Riker’s is a prison with 12,000 inmates and an $800 million annual budget. It’s just a few feet above sea level. During Hurricane Katrina, prisoners were left to fend for themselves in locked prisons with no electricity: During Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish Prison (“OPP”), one of Louisiana’slargest penal institutions, was faced with having to protect and evacuate its prisoners during one of the worst natural disasters our nation has seen, and certainly the worst in New Orleans history. With inadequate or non-existent emergency plans, the prison was grossly unprepared to handle the storm and its aftermath. Prisoners were abandoned by guards and left stuck in locked cells while the levees broke and water began to flood the prison. Backup generators failed, leaving prisoners in darkness, some in flooded cells with water chest high. Prisoners were deprived of food, water, ventilation, and rescue. Prisoners were unable to protect themselves, and OPP and its officials failed to do it for them. Source: MockPaperScissors HIGH RES

Above: Plan of NYC’s evacuation plan. Unlike the yellow areas, Riker’s Island will not be evacuated. Riker’s is a prison with 12,000 inmates and an $800 million annual budget. It’s just a few feet above sea level. During Hurricane Katrina, prisoners were left to fend for themselves in locked prisons with no electricity:

During Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish Prison (“OPP”), one of Louisiana’slargest penal institutions, was faced with having to protect and evacuate its prisoners during one of the worst natural disasters our nation has seen, and certainly the worst in New Orleans history. With inadequate or non-existent emergency plans, the prison was grossly unprepared to handle the storm and its aftermath. Prisoners were abandoned by guards and left stuck in locked cells while the levees broke and water began to flood the prison. Backup generators failed, leaving prisoners in darkness, some in flooded cells with water chest high. Prisoners were deprived of food, water, ventilation, and rescue. Prisoners were unable to protect themselves, and OPP and its officials failed to do it for them.

Source: MockPaperScissors

#prisoners  #human rights  #nyc  #bloomberg  #irene  #hurricane  
∞  08/27/11 at 03:09pm
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We are not evacuating Rikers Island,

 Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference this afternoon. 
#prisoners  #disaster planning  #planning  #hurricane  #irene  #climate change  #weather  #nyc  #bloomberg  
∞  08/27/11 at 03:02pm
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Rikers Island Prisoners Left Behind to Face Irene ›

#prisoners  #human rights  #disaster planning  #planning  #hurricane  #bloomberg  #nyc  
∞  08/27/11 at 03:01pm
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Locked Up and Left Behind: Hurricane Irene and the Prisoners on New York’s Rikers Island ›

Wow. And Rikers is built on a landfill out in the bay. 

“We are not evacuating Rikers Island,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference this afternoon.

Bloomberg annouced a host of extreme measures being taken by New York City in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, including a shutdown of the public transit system and the unprecedented mandatory evacuation of some 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 will 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.

#bloomberg  #irene  #hurricane  #weather  #disaster planning  #planning  #prisoners  #human rights  
∞  08/27/11 at 02:51pm via derasso
104 notes