Condition of inmates in Galveston County Jail is questioned

[dogday]

Reports from the Galveston County Jail, where 1,000 inmates were not allowed to evacuate during Hurricane Ike, are raising concerns of unsanitary conditions and inhumane treatment at the facility.

"They're just sitting there, they're desperate, it's disease waiting to happen," said Shirley Rutledge, a Hardin County resident whose son, an inmate there, told her they haven't been able to bathe or wash their hands because water is in short supply. "This is inhumane treatment for them. ... And now the mayor is saying the city is uninhabitable. So does that mean uninhabitable for everyone except the prisoners?"

Galveston County officials could not be reached by phone on Wednesday.

The situation has caused enough questions and concerns on the part of the family members and the media – who haven't been allowed inside the facility – that the executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards plans to travel to Galveston on Friday to check the conditions.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-ikeinmates_18tex.ART.State.Edition1.26cdcfa.html

[K Gardner]

1. Good lord.. they didn't evacuate them??!! K&R

[dogday]

4. No, and we are talking about people who have not been convicted

of a crime by law, only held until trial.. The poor who could not make bond... If people shouldn't live on the island, then neither should these prisoners... I can't imagine the toilet conditions in that place....

[meow mix]

2. cruel and unusual

whoever is responsible for them should be in jail next

[Ilsa]

3. County had a hard time getting generators for the jail.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4017931&mesg_id=4017931

Galveston officials: Feds blocking generators at jail

Dudley Anderson — the architect of the Galveston County Justice Center, which includes the jail, courts and law enforcement offices — said the Federal Emergency Managment Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers are letting rule books get in the way of supplying generators and, thus, air flow to the estimated 1,000 inmates in the jail.

snip

"FEMA won't turn loose of the generators until they inspect the area themselves. They keep saying that will be tomorrow. I've heard that for days," he said. "We know the exact size we need. We told them. Apparently, that's difficult for them to accept."

Anderson said that, without air circulating in the closed facility in this climate, mold and mildew can start growing everywhere. The lack of water and properly working toilet facilities exacerbates the problem, he said.

[EFerrari]

5. Kick

[barbtries]

6. there's a movie

called Prisoners of Katrina
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7801085471711396755
this situation sounds too similar. and this is wrong...apparently now just getting arrested is enough to reduce your status to roughly the same as a cockroach. unconscionable.