Petition: FEMA, Ensure Prisoners Safety During Hurricanes

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Attention Federal Emergency Management Agency, @FEMA
Peter Gaynor, FEMA Action Administrator, @FEMA_Pete
Gracia B. Szczech, FEMA Region IV Administrator, @femaregion4
Robert Samaan, FEMA Region IV Deputy Regional Administrator

          As Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5, approaches thousands incarcerated in jails, prisons, and immigrant detention centers throughout the state of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina lie in its path. We have seen time and time again in disaster situations that prisoners are amongst the most vulnerable populations and their needs are the last to be incorporated into disaster preparedness and response.

We are a coalition of concerned groups, organizations, and individuals advocating that:

1. Resources, especially food and bottled water, be provided to all prisons, jails, and detention facilities within Hurricane Dorian’s path and those facilities where prisoners are being evacuated to; and
2. FEMA’s National and Regional Offices  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.

          Without the ability to evacuate of their own free will, thousands of people will remain confined in cells during the flooding, power outages, and water and food scarcity that accompany hurricanes. Reports have emerged after every hurricane over the past three years,  concerning the welfare of prisoners at facilities that were not evacuated, and also facilities prisoners were evacuated to. These reports document extreme water and food shortages, flooding, power outages, along with physical and psychological stress demonstrating that state and federal corrections agencies prove to be routinely negligent in ensuring prisoners’ safety and health. 

        It is imperative that the Federal Emergency Management Agency provide all incarcerated people with resources to survive Hurricane Dorian and future disasters. 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 physically confined and kept from evacuating and from seeking disaster relief. We thank the agency for its hard work at ensuring safety for all those who are impacted.

Sincerely, 

Organizations:
Unheard Voices of the Concrete Jungle 
The Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
End Prison Slavery in Texas Movement
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Gainesville Chapter
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Atlanta Chapter
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Washington, D.C. Chapter
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Seattle Chapter
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Kansas City Chapter
Critical Resistance, NYC Chapter
Critical Resistance, Portland Chapter
Critical Resistance, Los Angeles Chapter
Critical Resistance, Oakland Chapter
Climate Action Montclair
UC Berkeley Student of Color Environmental Collective
D.C. Abolition Coalition
Queer Ecojustice Project
Rising Tide Seattle
La Resistencia
Socialist Rifle Association
GR Rapid Response to ICE
Atlanta Anarchist Black Cross
Solitary Gardens
Roots Action
Miami Climate Alliance
STARC, Richmond, VA
Peace House D.C.
No Detention Centers in Michigan
Future is Feminist
Copwatch D.C.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
Mason County Climate Justice
Millions For Prisoners New Mexico
Lexington Anti-Racist Action
Our Revolution New Mexico
Peacehome Campiagns
HEARD – Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf Communities
Brandeis Climate Justice
Harvard Law School National Lawyers Guild
Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign
Cease Animal Torture
Trans Pride Initiative
Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy
Terra Incognita Media
Kansas City DSA Prison Abolition Working Group
The Green Market Agorist
Texas Abolitionists
Shut Down Berks Coalition
Tampa DSA
Tampa Food Not Bombs
Bay Area Harm Reduction
Direct Action Everywhere Pinellas
Animal Rebellion Florida
Center for a Stateless Society

Individuals:
Ezra McPherson
Amrita Garcia
Jordan E. Mazurek, University of Kent & Universität Hamburg
Richard Andrew Thomas
Joanna Parkman
Karen Smith
Lucina Blair
Sarah Aubry
Suzanne Cook
Julie Norris
Elizabeth Goyer
Ryan Johnson-Evers
Eliza Eslinger
Brier Schrout
Shannan Zitney
Elizabeth Fraser
Faith Bradley
Kelsey Mohamed
Pamela Edwards
Anusha Alles
Amber Sid
Tierra Burge
Emma Anderson
Miranda Critchley
Deborah Bacon
Miranda Kraus
Kristina Jacobs
MC Camp
Kymberly Smith
Arianna Aguilar
Jas B.
Lola Rucker
Karen Meyers
Jo Kennedy
Shelley Cichy
Nina B.
Kayleigh Saum
Belly Sun
Gary Hill
Lee Nguye
Joe Stewart
JR Martin
Adelle Maclean
Leslie Patterson
Julia Levine
Mitchell Kaye
Cara Levy
Chris Lutz
Elizabeth Jahns
Westlin Grey Sullivan
Jess Gold
Eden Soni Bhalla
Carolyn Guérard Cale
Seph Mozes
Madisson Dashiell
Claire Hoback
Jessica Richmond
Jamani Montague
Sam Hoadley
Malka Roth
Jamie Berrout
Nikos E.
Danna Pope
Rotem Blat
Namita Money
Ashley Sutherland
Joanna La Follette, Frederick Economic and Social Justice
Robert A. Brown Jr
Mardi Strong
Josie R.
Ana .
Naomi Feldman
Rachel Wallace
Maxwell Neely
Alex Kelley
Shreya Patel
Reema Patel
Jewell Bohlinger
Nadia Clawson
Meg Macguire
Elijah
Emma Pacchiana
Eric McDavid
Rebecca Hensley, LA Network for Criminal Justice Transformation
Moon Reilly
Annalise Hammerlund
Tricia Harvey
Elizabeth Eslami
Emily Drennen
Aida Fitzgerald
Maddalena McDonnell
B. Joanna Chen
Michelle Street, SPUSA
Alyssa Thalmann
Nikita Perumal
A.M.G.
Victoria Heverley
Julianne
Sri Louise
Selinda Guerrero
Sylvie Boisclair
Kristin Heavy
Thomas Dent
Devin Lea
Margarita Mercure
Ilse Biel
Clair Fuller
A.S.
MelanieCohen
James Anderson
S. Brownrobie
Maisie
Dylan Hardina
Sabrina Hersh
Josh Hopkins
Matt J.
Nell Gaither
Jessica Rockstein
Amanda Partridge
Elisa Braver
Joseph Huerta
Michael Hessel-Mial
Chris
Zoe Evans
Anna Nathanson
Lara Song
Adriel
Lora Mathis
Duncan Tarr
Christie Slingluff
Cameron Cole
Natalia Carballo
Autumn Laws
Daniel barg
Paul Karitis
Maya Kattler-Gold
Eric Gjertsen
Melissa Markley
Savannah Patterson, ATL IWOC
Ellen Allen
Maya Chan
Lauren Fiel
Bonnie Hardie
Britney Chino
Libby Jansing
Ian Cory
Sarah Davis
Madalyn Sivley
Erin .
Emma Steele
Daniel Dixon
Paloma Hernandez with Critical Resistance
Genevieve .
Jessica McGinley
Zach Moore
Sarah Combellick-Bidney, Augsburg University
Itzel Padron
Mariam Husain
Diana Choi
Julia Gavin
Janis Beck
Leah Muskin-Pierret
Linee De Mouy
Vanessa Flores-Maldonadon
Presmanes Interiors
Miranda Klinck
Sasha Duttchoudhury
Tina McKim
Nicolas Marulanda
Connie Lu
Kristin Emery
Zach Romeo
Miguel Scott Valencia
Erin Monahan
Alix .
Grace Kantrow
Jess Heaney, Critical Resistance
Dakota Bodell
Anna Henderson
Onyinye Alheri
Logan Guidry
Johanna Engström Franklin
Kristin Garrity Sekerci
Marie Brignac
Lily Kelly
Lauren Stuparitz, Let’s Get Free, One Pennsylvania
Campion Cottrell-McDermott
David Bohn
Laurel Leake
Shakota Dilley
Garrett McConnell
Elizabeth Yuill
Becca Tasker
Amy Wang
Lorianne Lucienne
Nathan Goodman
Zulema Ramos
Jason Post
Darrius Hardmon
Taylor Kane
Nicholas McRae
Zbigniew J Grabowski, Ph.D.
Kai Ramey

And click here for over 4,000 signatures collected by Color of Change and Roots Action.

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