Three months into hurricane season, anxiety is running high in New Orleans and other at-risk cities. Witnessing the wrath of Hurricane Ian, residents know all too well that their city is not yet out of the woods. There are, however, small signs of relief and progress amid this climate-fueled apprehension – namely, the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
But despite being celebrated as a turning point by climate scientists across the globe, the IRA does nothing to explicitly protect the thousands of people incarcerated in Orleans Parish Prison and other prisons in high-risk hurricane areas who are already suffering climate change’s worst impacts.
As public defense experts working on public safety and access to justice in New Orleans, we have seen firsthand how people in prisons like Orleans Parish Prison are particularly susceptible to the extreme weather, poor health outcomes and displacement caused by climate change.
