Despite evacuation order, 1000 remain in Galveston jail
Houston Chronicle, United States - Sep 12, 2008
The reason for not evacuating the prisoners is a security issue and cannot be discussed, sheriff's spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said. ...

Houston - About 1,000 inmates on Friday remained in a jail on Galveston Island, a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico that Hurricane Ike is expected to hit first. The prisoners and a full staff stayed in the Galveston County Jail as huge waves started rolling over the island, with Ike expected to make landfall between 0200 and 0600 GMT Saturday morning. Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas ordered a mandatory evacuation of Galveston on Thursday. "The prisoners and their safety and wellbeing are paramount and it will be handled," the sheriff's spokesman Ray Tuttoilmondo was quoted as saying by the Houston Chronicle. He said the reason for not evacuating the prisoners was a security issue and could not be discussed, adding that any decision to move them would also be kept secret, according to the report. "We did this during (Hurricane) Rita (in 2005) and no one knew until it was absolutely done," Tuttoilmondo said. The spokesman would not comment on safety measures for the prisoners and staff if the jail were to flood. He said the structure was specially designed to withstand hurricanes. Water levels could reach up to 7 metres in the course of the day, with waves pushing the level even higher, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida, predicted. Fire Chief Pete David said he expected the storm to be the worst hurricane in memory for Galveston, which is known for its nearly 6- metre-high seawall built to protect historic old homes which survived the lethal storm of 1900. In 1900, up to 8,000 people died after a huge hurricane hit Galveston, causing the deadliest natural disaster in US history. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina killed about 1,800 people in New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf coast.

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If any staff or prisoners died or drown would not this be a real ethics issue let alane a law suit? They did this in NOLA also but none of the prisoners died.

These staff and prisoners have families also.

http://www.slate.com/id/2199925/

Ike Goes to Gitmo What happens to the detainees when a hurricane hits Guantanamo Bay?
By Jacob Leibenluft
Posted Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008, at 12:54 PM ET

Hurricane Ike—which is expected to hit Texas on Friday or Saturday—has already taken its toll on Cuba, reportedly killing four people and damaging more than 200,000 homes. Like Hurricane Gustav two weeks ago, Ike also hit the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. What happens to detainees at Gitmo when a hurricane hits?

Unless it gets really bad, they stay put. In the words of a camp spokesman, "safe and humane care and custody" of detainees—a stated mission of the camp's commanders—requires protecting them from "the elements of inclement weather." The military maintains that the facilities currently housing the prisoners are capable of withstanding anything up to a Category 2 hurricane, according to the Miami Herald. As early as February 2002, camp officials also said that in the event of a catastrophic storm, detainees could be housed temporarily in old ammunition bunkers. (In 1994—when the base was housing thousands of Cuban refugees—the Department of Defense said bunkers at Guantanamo could hold as many as 14,000 people.)

That's not to say it's business as usual at Guantanamo during a hurricane. Aside from the detainees, regular residents of the base—mostly military personnel, contractors, and their families—follow a weather warning system that ranges in severity from Readiness Condition V (which is in effect for the entire hurricane season and requires that residents be generally prepared) to Readiness Condition I (which comes into play when a severe storm is less than 12 hours away). During the approach of Ike, the high-alert Condition I applied—all base leave and liberty were canceled, and nonessential personnel had to stay at home or take cover in hurricane shelters. (Most homes at the base are hurricane-resistant, but residents can take shelter in large buildings like the gym, elementary school, or bowling alley.) On Sunday, the hurricane preparations also meant a planned outdoor showing of Tropic Thunder was canceled, as the space was used to park bulldozers and other heavy machinery instead.

While Cuba is often hit by hurricanes, Guantanamo has never suffered extensive damage from storms; one possible reason is that the nearby island of Hispaniola acts as a buffer. By contrast, the treatment of prisoners during hurricanes has been far more controversial in Louisiana. In 2005, inmates from Orleans Parish Prison were not evacuated as Hurricane Katrina approached. As a result, prisoners were allegedly left in their cells as they flooded, many without food or clean water. (In some cases, the inmates weren't removed for as many as five days.) Orleans Parish used a different approach on the eve of Hurricane Gustav last month: Two thousand one hundred prisoners were bused to facilities located farther inland, and 171 inmates who had been either sentenced or were awaiting trial on nonviolent municipal charges were released. (Those who hadn't yet been tried were still required to report to court after the storm.)

Makes one wonder
Who is it in that prison?

this is a horrible violation of human rights it would seem.