Locked Up and Left Behind- Rikers Island is NOT being Evacuated

p August 26, 2011/p p ldquo;We are not evacuating span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="2"Rikers/span Island,rdquo; Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/mike_bloomberg_mandatory_evacuation.php"news conference /athis afternoon. Bloombergnbsp;span data-scayt_word="annouced" data-scaytid="5"annouced/spannbsp;a hostnbsp; 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. Butnbsp;in response to a reporterrsquo;s question,nbsp;thenbsp;mayornbsp;stated in no uncertain terms (and with more than a hint of annoyance) thatnbsp;one group of New Yorkers on vulnerable ground will be staying put./p p a href="http://solitarywatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/rikers1.jpg"img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3751" height="188" src="http://solitarywatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/rikers1.jpg?w=244h=188" title="rikers1" width="244" //aNew York City is surrounded by small islands and barrier beaches, and a glance at the cityrsquo;s a href="http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/2011/08/26/why-isnt-the-rikers-island-jail-being-evacuated-for-hurricane-irene/"evacuation mapnbsp;/areveals all of them to be in Zone A (already under a mandatorynbsp;evacuation order) or Zone Bndash;all, that is, save one. span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="3"Rikers/span 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./p p According to the New York City Department of Correctionsrsquo; a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/doc/html/about/facilities_overview.shtml"own website/a, more than three-quarters of span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="4"Rikers/span Islandrsquo;s 400 acres are built on landfillndash;which is generally thought to be more vulnerable to natural disasters. Its ten jails have a capacity of close to 17,000 inmates, andnbsp;normally house at least 12,000, including juveniles and large numbers of prisoners with mental illnessndash;not to mention pre-trial detainees who have yet to be convicted of any crime. There are also hundreds of corrections officers at work on the island./p p We were not able to reach anyone at the NYC DOC for commentndash;but the a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/hurricane-irene-questions-and-answers/"emNew York Times/emlsquo;s City Room /ablog reported: ldquo;According to the cityrsquo;s Department of Correction, 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 span data-scayt_word="another.”" data-scaytid="1"another.rdquo;/span/p p For a warning of what can happen to prisoners in a hurricane we need only look back at Katrina, and the horrific conditions endured by inmates at Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans. According to a a href="http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/aclu-report-details-horrors-suffered-orleans-parish-prisoners-wake-hurricane-katrin"report produced by the ACLU/a:/p blockquotep [A]nbsp;culture of neglect was evident in the days before Katrina, when the sheriff declared that the prisoners would remain ldquo;where they belong,rdquo; despite the mayorrsquo;s decision to declare the cityrsquo;s first-ever mandatory evacuation. span data-scayt_word="OPP" data-scaytid="6"OPP/span even accepted prisoners, including juveniles as young as 10, from other facilities to ride out the storm./p p As floodwaters rose in the span data-scayt_word="OPP" data-scaytid="7"OPP/span 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 hellip;/p p 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./p p nbsp;/p div id="content" h2 August 27, 2011/h2 div class="post-627 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized" id="post-627" div class="storycontent" div div p strongspan style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"Take Action for span data-scayt_word="Rikers’" data-scaytid="38"Rikersrsquo;/span Island Prisoners!nbsp; Demand the City Create an Emergency Evacuation Plannbsp; /span/span/strongbr / span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;" /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Mayor Bloomberg has announced that in the event of a hurricane, that he will not evacuate prisoners at span data-scayt_word="Rikers’" data-scaytid="39"Rikersrsquo;/span Island, claiming instead to have a ldquo;contingency planrdquo; in place. The experience of prisoners in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina shows that city authorities will abandon the basic rights of prisoners in the face of disaster.br / /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"We canrsquo;t let Bloomberg get away with this!br / /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"(1.) Demand the city strongspan style="text-decoration: underline;"create an emergency evacuation plan by span data-scayt_word="5pm" data-scaytid="42"5pm/span today to evacuate prisoners at span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="13"Rikers/span Island in the event that other areas in Zone B or C around span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="14"Rikers/span Island are evacuated./span/strong/spanbr / /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Call NYC Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs at a href="http://alaa2325.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/take-action-for-rikers%E2%80%99-island-prisoners-demand-the-city-create-an-emergency-evacuation-plan/%28212%29%20788-2485" target="_blank"(212) 788-2485/a/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"a href="mailto:lgibbs@cityhall.nyc.gov" target="_blank"span data-scayt_word="lgibbs@cityhall.nyc.gov" data-scaytid="22"lgibbs@cityhall.nyc.gov/span/a/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Twitter: span data-scayt_word="@NYCMayorsOffice" data-scaytid="44"@NYCMayorsOffice/spanbr / /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"(2.) Call strongon span data-scayt_word="NY1" data-scaytid="45"NY1/span to investigate the status of the ldquo;contingency planrdquo; for span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="15"Rikers/span Island prisoners/strong:/span/p p span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"nbsp;a href="http://www.ny1.com/content/contact_us/" target="_blank"http://span data-scayt_word="www.ny1.com" data-scaytid="23"www.ny1.com/span/content/contact_us//a /span/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Tel.: nbsp;a href="http://alaa2325.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/take-action-for-rikers%E2%80%99-island-prisoners-demand-the-city-create-an-emergency-evacuation-plan/212-691-6397" target="_blank"212-691-6397/abr / /span/p p span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"(3.) strongSubmit evacuation plan demand to cityrsquo;s website: /strong/span/span/p p span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"strong-/strongGo to a href="http://nycsevereweather.crowdmap.com/reports/submit/" target="_blank"http://span data-scayt_word="nycsevereweather.crowdmap.com" data-scaytid="24"nycsevereweather.crowdmap.com/span/reports/submit//anbsp; ndash;this is a website set up by the city for people to submit weather-related service problems.nbsp; Locate span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="16"Rikers/span Island on the map and drag the red marker there./span/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"-Copy and paste this text (or write your own!):/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Title: Evacuation plan needed/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"The city has no evacuation plan for span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="17"Rikers/span Island, despite its low elevation and its nearly 13,000 prisoners. Please do not let these individuals, or the ones at the nearby floating Vernon C. Bain Correction Center, suffer./span/p /div /div /div /div /div /blockquote