Prisons present unique emergency response challenges

It’s one thing to live in hurricane country; it’s a whole other thing to be incarcerated there. From the perspective of the prisoner, however, little can be done about that. The jailer has the responsibility of protecting, feeding, and clothing inmates during a natural or terrorist disaster, and he must do this while not losing control of his charges. After all, a disaster would be just the time for an escape or for wandering inmates to commit reprisals against one another, Emergency Management reports. No wonder, then, that a market is growing in corrections-related emergency planning. One company doing well at it is Campbell, California-based LETRA, which claims to have worked on emergency plans at one-third of the nation’s state prisons. It’s system, we should note, is also compatible with FEMA’s National Incident Management System.

Consider the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) as an example. In the 1980s, the agency was most famous for a massive prison riot that has killed thirty-three inmates. All told, the prisons were a mess, say experts, until 2003, when NMCD installed LETRA’s system. Training is key, said NMCD’s George Martinez. “Everybody knows their role, their responsibilities,” he said. “And just by knowing something like that, you’re that much more assured of what you can do. The pressures are off, and it’s very comforting.” Most importantly, however, the LETRA system has forced the agency to come to grips with its evacuation procedures — typically a warden’s worst nightmare. (7,500 prisoners were evacuated during Katrina, but it was a mess.) NMCD has now signed agreements with other nearby law enforcement agencies to house its prisoners if neccesary, and had made similar arrangements with the National Guard to lend a hand security-wise.