As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida's west coast, millions are under evacuation orders -- including prisoners -- but some jails are choosing to keep inmates and staff in place.
In Manatee County, where residents in three evacuation zones have been ordered to leave, the county jail -- located in a flood-prone area -- will not be evacuated. Sheriff's Deputy Brandon Harvey confirmed that about 1,200 inmates, along with deputies and staff, will stay at the facility.
"We have supplies," he told the New York Times. "We also have a two-story jail, so we can go up to the second floor if it does flood."
Pinellas County, under similar evacuation orders, is also opting to keep its 3,100 inmates and 800 staff at the county jail despite a mandatory evacuation order. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri shared the jail's "vertical evacuation plan" in a Tuesday afternoon news conference.
"With that number of inmates, it's really not possible, feasible to evacuate people out of there, and it's unnecessary, because we can go up," Sheriff Gualtieri said. "Everybody will be safe up there."
Meanwhile, Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, has begun evacuating inmates from its booking facility located in a mandatory evacuation zone. They are being relocated to the main jail.
Inmate releases from the jail will be suspended to avoid sending people into dangerous conditions as the storm approaches the coast with an expected landfall of 9 p.m. ET.
Florida's sheriffs are coordinating evacuation plans, particularly for smaller jails. In some cases, mutual aid agreements with other counties could allow for the relocation of inmates, but larger facilities face challenges that make sheltering in place the most feasible option.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
