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A number of jails in central Florida are endangering thousands of lives by refusing to evacuate to other facilities despite the clear and present danger posed by Hurricane Milton, which is set to make landfall in the state in a matter of hours.
Several of these jails — where thousands of people are incarcerated and hundreds are employed — are located in Zone A or Zone B of evacuation zones, where it is mandatory that all residents evacuate before the hurricane reaches them.
“If you are in the Storm Surge Warning Area, this is an extremely life-threatening situation, and you should evacuate today if ordered by local officials,” the National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday, adding that there “will likely not be enough time” to change minds later on.
“I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said.
Despite these dire warnings, officials at Manatee County Jail, which is 45 minutes south of Tampa by car and in the Zone A designation, are refusing to relocate the people who are imprisoned there.
A deputy for that jail told Newsweek that they’re confident they won’t have any issues during Hurricane Milton, as they have food and other supplies in the facility.
A deputy speaking to The New York Times suggested that the jail had a contingency plan for the hurricane.
“We have supplies. We also have a two-story jail, so we can go up to the second floor if it does flood,” said Manatee County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Harvey.
The predicted storm surge, which is expected to reach as high as 15 feet, indicates that the jail could face devastating impacts from Hurricane Milton. According to county officials, the surge will likely affect all areas west of U.S. Highway 41 in Manatee County alongside Tampa Bay — right where the jail is located.
Other jails in the state are also making the decision to stay put amid the impending hurricane — Pinellas County Jail, for example, is located in Zone B, where residents are under a mandatory order to evacuate. Despite this order, the 3,100 people imprisoned in the jail (as well as the 800 people who work there) will be required to remain in the storm’s path.
These jails are anomalies for the state — according to the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC), 28 facilities in the path of Hurricane Milton have evacuated more than 4,600 incarcerated people.
In a statement shared to Truthout about the evacuations, the FDC Office of Communications indicated that it was up to each jail to decide whether or not to evacuate people.
The FDC “is taking proactive steps to ensure public safety and make sure the individuals entrusted to our custody are safe and secure as Florida prepares for Hurricane Milton,” the department said in its email.
Many expressed skepticism over the jails’ ability to keep incarcerated people safe.
“Let me get this straight… authorities are saying evacuate or you will likely die from the anticipated 15 ft storm surges, but they are going to leave men and women locked in jail cells during the storm?” questioned Jessica Jackson, CEO of Reform Alliance, an organization dedicated to parole and sentencing reform in the U.S.
“Which part of ‘mandatory evacuation,’ ‘catastrophic,’ ‘life-threatening,’ and ‘you’re gonna die’ are jail officials in Manatee County not getting???” wrote Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at LBJ School of Public Affairs for the University of Texas.
In an interview with local news, the mother of a man who is incarcerated at a facility that isn’t evacuating expressed fears about her son’s safety during the storm.
“They said their buildings are able to sustain a storm like this. They seem to think this storm is not serious,” said the woman, who requested to remain anonymous.
“When my son was sentenced, he was not given a death sentence,” she added.
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