California’s prison system is dangerously unprepared for climate disasters

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According to the recent audit from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) “is unable to evacuate the incarcerated population and staff at most prisons within the first critical 72 hours of an emergency.”

The audit found that most prisons lack specific evacuation plans, do not have enough buses or staff to carry out a rapid response, and use inconsistent methods to assess risk from fires, floods, and earthquakes.

The OIG’s audit follows earlier warnings in the #HiddenHazards report by UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and the @ellabakercenter, which documented how prisons are sited in remote, a which found that 18 of California’s 34 prisons are vulnerable to extreme heat, wildfires, and/or flooding.

We call for implementation of recommendations in both reports, including:

-The creation of detailed evacuation plans

-Strategies to reduce the prison population to directly decrease risk

-Legislative ideas to strengthen oversight of CDCR

-Approaches for addressing climate adaptation

-Closure of prisons especially vulnerable to climate hazards.