Objective: This study aims to critically evaluate the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), New Orleans, Louisiana response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, response to Hurricane Maria in 2017 to determine key areas for policy development.Design: This study uses an interpretivist paradigm to conduct an inductive, cross-case synthesis and content analysis.Setting: The OPP in Katrina and the MDC in Maria; case-studies determined by similar exposure to hurricanes in the Caribbean and inmate population.Subjects: Inmates as an intrinsically vulnerable population.Interventions: Cross-case synthesis of the two selected case-studies comparing response to separate hurricanes.Main outcome measure(s): The ProQuest, Wiley, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were used to establish a corpus of qualitative data focused on the evacuation and humane treatment of inmates. Inductive content analysis resulted in three themes which informed seven policy recommendations for enhanced correctional facility preparedness for natural and human-induced hazards. Results: The preparedness of correctional facilities remains inadequate despite significant experience during Katrina, Maria, and other disasters demonstrating a failure in isomorphic learning.Conclusions: The theoretical contributions of this study are encapsulated in seven recommendations. Three are recommended accountability and support measures for the BOP and state institutions by involving the FEMA and the GAO. The other four are recommended improvements in EM planning for counties and municipalities.

Jail and prison administrators have historically struggled to prepare for and respond to disasters. State and county Emergency Managers, as public administrators, are responsible for coordinating preparedness to mitigate disaster impacts. The author used 41 qualitative interviews with emergency management and corrections professionals to assess the extent to which these two collaborate for carceral disaster readiness. The findings indicate that Emergency Managers omit local jails and prisons from their planning, training, and exercises. Additionally, neither sees the other as a legitimate partner in disaster preparedness. This forces corrections professionals to face disasters without the aid of emergency management experts thereby exposing inmates, staff, and the public to greater risk.

Recurring carceral evacuations are required for some jurisdictions. Little is known about how these evacuations are planned or executed. This study sought to fill this gap by examining carceral evacuations during disasters in 2020 –2021. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 carceral administrators from three US regions where such evacuations are common, namely the Gulf Coast, the Southwest, and the Northwest. From these interviews, three overarching themes emerged – Carceral administrator prerogative, Interoperability, and Successful end-state – which inform 15 posited recommendations for enhancing carceral evacuation efficacy.

Scholars of police stress and misconduct have long studied the almost daily dilemmas faced by the nation's police. The stress of physical and verbal conflicts or unsanitary environments in a "normal" day is higher for police than most professions. Additionally, the exercise of discretion involved in deciding when, where, and to what extent police should enforce laws can create ethical dilemmas that are not always resolved positively.In Policing in Natural Disasters: Stress, Resilience, and the Challenges of Emergency Management, Adams and Anderson attempt to fill the gap in disaster literature surrounding the question of what "major challenges law enforcement officers face in such times." Adams, and to a lesser extent, Anderson, began their work by examining the behaviors and attitudes of first responders in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The authors continued their work by studying the effect of disasters on police in three cases: Hurricane Katrina's impact on both New Orleans, LA, and Gulfport, MS, in 2005; the 2010 Santiago, Chile earthquake and tsunami; and the Tuscaloosa, AL, Tornado Super Outbreak in 2011. Combining data collected from these studies, the authors produced a new, more comprehensive picture of police challenges after disaster. These three disasters do not receive equal treatment, however, as Katrina is by far the most referenced and used to provide the most examples.This book brings attention to the issues of stress and police misconduct in disasters. In the introduction, Adams and Anderson briefly described their methodology. The authors drew on their aggregate collection of approximately 100 post-disaster officer interviews and close to 900 self-administered surveys to paint a picture of how stress, role conflict, and ethical dilemmas affect police.Findings from these interviews may provide new information to emergency management scholars who are unfamiliar with police operations. One particular finding