Tell FEMA: stop neglecting prisoners during hurricanes!

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    Tell FEMA: stop neglecting prisoners during hurricanes!

    Hurricane Dorian has devastated the Bahamas and parts of the south eastern United States. Mandatory evacuation orders were in place along affected coastal areas but there is one group of people who has no control over whether they are able to get out of harm's way--prisoners. Corrections officials made the decision to "shelter in place" during Hurricane Dorian so we are calling on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to protect prisoners by delivering life saving supplies directly to incarcerated people in the affected areas.

    In the aftermath of recent hurricanes, incarcerated people have been forced to contend with their roofs being blown off from over their heads, having to wade through and even drink contaminated chest-deep water, food and medicine shortages, and maximized oppression or disciplinary measures as a result of staff shortages. At this point, state and federal corrections agencies have a pattern and a practice of being routinely negligent in ensuring prisoners’ safety and health during hurricanes.

    Resources, especially food and bottled water, must be provided by FEMA via direct delivery to all prisons, jails, and detention facilities within Hurricane Dorian’s path and those facilities where prisoners are being evacuated to. Further, FEMA’s National and Regional Offices must implement policies and active plans that ensure adequate food and water are provided to prisoners and immigrant detainees in advance and in the aftermath of disasters. That's why Color Of Change members are joining our friends at Fight Toxic Prisons, Roots Action, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, Critical Resistance and over 40 other organizations to demand that all incarcerated people in the path of Hurricane Dorian receive the supplies they need. 

    Sign the petition.

    Below is the petition we will deliver to Peter Gaynor, FEMA Action Administrator, Gracia B. Szczech, FEMA Region IV Administrator, and Robert Samaan, FEMA Region IV Deputy Regional Administrator: 

    Here is the Petition:
    To Peter Gaynor, Gracia Szczech, and Robert Samaan:

    It is imperative that the Federal Emergency Management Agency provide all incarcerated people with resources to survive Hurricane Dorian, the hurricane aftermath, and future disasters via direct delivery. Furthermore, we ask that the agency ensure that resources are equitably distributed to the prisoners and not kept in the hands of the guards.

    Your website states the agency is working hard to provide resources to all affected areas in Dorian’s path. We ask that you not forget about those who are detained in jails, prisons, and detention centers and thus kept from evacuating and from seeking disaster relief.