{"id":510090,"date":"2022-02-12T14:12:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T14:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=385572"},"modified":"2022-02-12T14:12:33","modified_gmt":"2022-02-12T14:12:33","slug":"as-wildfires-threaten-more-prisons-the-incarcerated-ask-who-will-save-their-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/02\/12\/as-wildfires-threaten-more-prisons-the-incarcerated-ask-who-will-save-their-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"As Wildfires Threaten More Prisons, the Incarcerated Ask Who Will Save Their Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

With flames bearing<\/u> down on the remote California town of Susanville in August 2021, residents were getting ready to evacuate. The Dixie Fire, the state\u2019s second-largest blaze ever, had already been wreaking havoc on the main business in town: the two state prisons, each with capacities in the thousands, that call Susanville home. The wildfire had taken out power lines supplying the prisons, with the California Correctional Center\u2019s C-Yard hit particularly hard: The facility\u2019s backup generator had failed, and the people incarcerated there had been without lights for nearly a month.<\/p>\n

No power meant no cooking, no televisions to furnish a distraction. Time in the communal day room was scrapped. Prisoners could only rarely call their loved ones. Toilets stopped working for hours at a time, and the ventilation systems would go down as smoke wafted into the facility, according to two people incarcerated there at the time. (A California prisons official said the\u00a0facility was \u201crunning full-power operations.\u201d)<\/p>\n

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Now, with the Dixie Fire approaching, incarcerated people in the C-Yard were locked in their dark, smoky cells. Cell doors, normally electronically powered, were in some cases padlocked by guards, according to a man incarcerated at the C-Yard, who asked for anonymity to avoid reprisals. He said the guards dismissed prisoners\u2019 concerns about how to open the locks if the flames came into the prison complex: \u201cThe COs would laugh at us and tell us, \u2018You effers are going to stay in your cell.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

No one in the C-Yard, five buildings\u00a0constructed to house hundreds of people, had any idea if, when, or how they would get out if the flames encroached on the prison campus. \u201cWe never had any evacuation drills,\u201d said Joseph Vejar, a prisoner at California Correctional Center who served as chair of the inmate advisory council;\u00a0he says he discussed the fire and the generator failure with prison officials. Vejar said he was never shown the details of the prison\u2019s emergency protocols: \u201cI never heard of them having a plan for evacuation.\u201d
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A firefighter looks on as plumes of smoke from the Dixie Fire rise near Susanville, Calif., on Aug. 18, 2021.<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Patrick T. Fallon\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>
\nWhile most people<\/u> in places threatened by wildfires can flee \u2014 some residents in the Susanville area did last August \u2014 imprisoned populations, by definition, do not have control over their movements. They are instead at the mercy of the state.<\/p>\n

Absent any details about evacuation plans, prisoners and their advocates across California are skeptical that meaningful arrangements exist.<\/p>\n

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In Susanville, a fire event was foreseeable. Using U.S. Forest Service data, The Intercept mapped wildfire risk against the locations of more than 6,500 prisons, jails, and\u00a0Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers listed in a 2020 Department of Homeland Security register. The analysis showed that the California Correctional Center falls in the 90th percentile for wildfire danger in the nation.<\/p>\n

With its vast expanse, enormous population, and hot, dry climate, California is the state with the most detention facilities at the highest risk levels: About a\u00a0fifth of the state\u2019s institutions are\u00a0above the 95th percentile, according to The Intercept\u2019s analysis. (The count includes\u00a0a couple dozen small fire camps, where incarcerated firefighters are trained and work, that are by design in the most fire-prone areas.)<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, wildfires in California have been getting worse \u2014 larger and more destructive, with each fire season coming earlier than the last. Warming temperatures and drought exacerbated by the climate\u00a0crisis are creating an ever more parched landscape, leaving swaths of land ready to ignite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe California prison system should figure out the most high-risk prisons,\u201d said Joe Scott, a wildfire researcher, \u201cand make a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In an email, Terry Thornton, deputy press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which operates under Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s administration, said the\u00a0agency regularly reviews and updates emergency protocols, including evacuation plans, for each prison. \u201cDue to the construction features of many of our prisons and camps, landscape fuel management modifications, dedicated fire brigades, and planning, many of our state prisons are well prepared for any wildfire risks, regardless of the area they are located,\u201d she said. Thornton declined to share any specific details \u201cfor safety and security reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the prison system analyzed wildfire risk for institutions, Thornton said the California Governor\u2019s Office of Emergency Services \u201cdevelops and maintains planning, preparedness, prevention, response and recovery strategies.\u201d Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the office, said the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was responsible for identifying risks to prisons. \u201cOur general take,\u201d he said, \u201cis every place in\u00a0California is wildfire country in 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n