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Florida Sheriff Offers Jail as ‘Secure Shelter’ for Those With Warrants Fleeing Hurricane Irma

posted by mrpg on Sunday September 10 2017, @10:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the sounds-good dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

As Hurricane Irma's destructive path nears Florida, a sheriff is warning sex offenders to beware of officers checking IDs at shelters. But now people are worried the rules will also affect others with outstanding warrants.

[...] "If you go to a shelter for #Irma, be advised: sworn LEOs will be at every shelter, checking IDs. Sex offenders/predators will not be allowed."

The sheriff explained the tweet further by writing on top of it, "If you go to a shelter for #Irma and you have a warrant, we'll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail."

[...] RT America contacted the sheriff's office, and was told a public information officer would call back with further information.

Free pajamas and meals provided at no cost.

Source: Florida sheriff offers jail as 'secure shelter' for those with warrants fleeing Hurricane Irma

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @11:30AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @11:30AM (#565928)

    https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170906/13220538158/florida-sheriff-plans-to-use-hurricane-irma-to-bump-up-arrest-numbers-fill-his-jail.shtml [techdirt.com]

    So, lots and lots of locals might consider possibly drowning, rather than being arrested, tossed into Judd's jail… and possibly drowning there. After all, it's not as though law enforcement officers feel obliged to ride out the storm while keeping an eye on people they barely consider to be people.

    When Katrina hit, the Orleans Parish sheriff's office abandoned one of its jails, leaving 600 inmates to fend for themselves. Cells flooded, toilets backed up, the power went out, and by the end of it, the sheriff's department couldn't account for 517 of those inmates. In the aftermath of Harvey, the same thing is happening in Houston's jails, although officials there have been following through with better evacuation efforts. Still, prisoners are resorting to drinking contaminated toilet water as the water supplies have ceased functioning and inmates are reporting cells with standing water 4-6" deep.

    So, a jail is not a "safe and secure shelter" by any stretch of the imagination. It's not even "safe and secure" outside of the hurricane context. Multiple inmates have died in Judd's jail -- none of them of old age. Polk County deputies also allegedly abused arrested children (yes, the state's effed-up laws allow children to be jailed in adult prisons) and engaged in sexual misconduct with arrestees.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @02:27PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @02:27PM (#565954)

    According to the source article [hrw.org], it is suggested that 517 out of 600 prisoners drowned or were otherwise killed as a result of New Orleans jailers in the employ of the county sheriff abandoning the jail with all 600 prisoners left locked inside.

    Highlights:
    - many had not even been brought before a judge to be charged with a crime, much less being convicted of anything
    - locked cells flooded
    - toilets backed up and overflowed due to flooding
    - bodies floating in inside floodwaters
    - no fresh water, so prisoners resorted to drinking "contaminated" water. Think about it.

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @04:10PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @04:10PM (#565971)

      A-yup. I feel like a certain portion of US law enforcement would feel just at home in, say, Saudi Arabia. Cutting off hands and heads for minor offenses, stuff like that.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @06:05PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 10 2017, @06:05PM (#565989)

        Yet it works just fine there. Cut off whatever was used to commit a crime... Sex offenders especially.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by realDonaldTrump on Monday September 11 2017, @02:41AM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday September 11 2017, @02:41AM (#566099) Homepage Journal

        I'll tell you, the Saudis are fabulous. They bought a whole floor of Trump World Tower. And when I went there, so friendly! They love me. We did a sexy sword dance. And Wilbur Ross said there wasn't one protester. Not one. Fabulous! 🇺🇸

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 11 2017, @06:30PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Monday September 11 2017, @06:30PM (#566308)

        "law enforcement" ?
        A significant portion of the US isn't thinking very differently from the Saudi or the Taliban about people they find ... unpleasant. It's just the words and underlying concepts that change.
        The law enforcement subset is just a product of selection of individuals based on their willingness to perform certain tasks. That biases the sample a lot.