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Irene

Prisoners to Remain at NYC's Rikers Island

Despite mandatory evacuation of low-lying areas.

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Jewel Samad / AFP-Getty Images

Prisoners in New York’s infamous Rikers Island Jail will not be evacuated in the face of the coming hurricane. Around 300,000 people were evacuated from the city’s low-lying areas, the evacuation plan did not include the jail, despite that 75 percent of Rikers Island is built on landfill--thought to be more vulnerable to natural disasters. The island usually houses about 12,000 inmates. Hurricane Irene is expected to weaken before it hits New York, but there’s precedent to be worried about the conditions of inmates during hurricanes: During Katrina, prisoners were left in the Orleans Parish Prison despite the mandatory evacuation, and endured terrible conditions.

Read it at Mother Jones

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