Rikers Island Prisoners Left Behind to Face Irene

[Are_grits_groceries]

<snip>
New York City is surrounded by small islands and barrier beaches, and a glance at the city's evacuation map reveals all of them to be in Zone A (already under a mandatory evacuation order) or Zone B–all, that is, save one. Rikers Island, which lies in the waters between Queens and the Bronx, is not highlighted at all, meaning it is not to be evacuated under any

According to the New York City Department of Correction's website, more than three-quarters of Rikers Island's 400 acres are built on landfill–which is generally thought to be more vulnerable to natural disasters. Its 10 jails have a capacity of close to 17,000 inmates, and normally house at least 12,000, including juveniles and large numbers of prisoners with mental illness—not to mention pretrial detainees who have yet to be convicted of any crime. There are also hundreds of corrections officers at work on the island.
<snip>
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/08/rikers-island-prisoners-irene?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Motherjones%2Fmojoblog+%28MotherJones.com+|+MoJoBlog%29

I'm not sure how they would relocate them. This could be a death sentence for some unfortunate souls.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Critters2]

3. Lawsuits SHOULD ensue

In my opinion.

[bigwillq]

5. Hello.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Little Star]

2. Well, that just made me a little sick to my stomach.....

Hope they all stay alive.

[BlueIris]

14. Very shameful.

The situation that is, not the sick-making reaction to it some of us are having.

[markpkessinger]

22. Before you rush to judgment...

...see Message #19 in this thread.

[Retrograde]

4. How high is it?

How sturdy is the building? Can prisoners be evacuated to higher levels? How far upstream is Rikers?

I'm not accusing anyone of malice without more facts (sorry, can't access the linked article without an ad obscuring most of the text)

[truth2power]

6. If you maximize your screen when you click on the article....

there's an X in the upper right corner of the ad. Click on it and the ad goes away.

When your screen isn't maximized the X is just out of sight. Hope this helps. :)

[Retrograde]

10. not on this tiny machine n/t

[eleny]

7. Much of it was created with landfill per Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikers_Island

[dana_b]

11. 1954

I wonder if it was secured/reinforced and such so the landfill won't sink. 57 years is a long time.

[markpkessinger]

21. To answer your question...

See Message #19.

[anamandujano]

8. Another possible problem--with enough mayhem,

some can escape.

[dana_b]

9. cruel and unusual

this is so wrong

[lonestarnot]

12. Fucking A.

[Critters2]

13. Exactly nt

[Little Star]

15. kick

[malaise]

16. Where is Bernie Kerik

Don't give Murdoch ideas please!
Sorry to make light of a frightening situation.

[Little Star]

17. Yikes! I just looked at the pic in the MJ article.

Rikers sits in the middle of the pic.

[markpkessinger]

20. And that pic tells you nothing about the elevation.

See message Message #19.

[FarCenter]

18. Rikers appears to be above 25 feet above sea level

Probably not a problem since it is not directly exposed to the Atlantic Ocean storm surge.

Its not at all as vulnerable as Coney Island, Far Rockaway or the other Brooklyn and Queens beach communities.

[markpkessinger]

19. This is sensationalist bullshit - PLEASE STOP DISTRIBUTING IT

Rikers Island has an average elevation of 26 feet (or about 8 meters) above sea level. (Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. As such, it is perfectly appropriate that it is not included in evacuation "Zone A." In fact, there are plenty of residential neighborhoods that sit at a lower elevation and also border a waterway in NYC that have not been evacuated (Long Island City, to name but one). In addition, the complex has many buildings that are at least 10 stories tall. The projected storm surge is 4' to 8', and thus is not projected to present any significant risk to the Rikers prisoners.

Here is a topographical map as well.

It's easy to fall for this kind of thing, but it pays to do your own homework.

[Supply Side Jesus]

24. This is DU we are talking about

why let rational thought/fact checking creep in here when we can continually predict doom for someone at all time

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

23. According to Bloomberg, Rikers is not evac zone a and high enough and all will be safe. nt