Prisoner Labor Throughout the Life Cycle of Disasters

Abstract

Disaster impacts are on the rise, along with the costs to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from these events. Inmates housed in prisons are a source of low‐cost labor for various tasks before, during, and after disasters. However, little is known about whether states plan to use inmate labor for emergency management needs. This paper responds to this gap through a content analysis of the inclusion of inmates as a labor resource in U.S. state‐level Emergency Operations Plans. Results show a majority of states include inmates in their plans and that inmates are a source of labor throughout the entire life cycle of a disaster. Further, planning documents include 34 different tasks that inmates may be assigned. States’ disaster experience, rates of incarceration, rates of minority incarceration, imprisonment costs, and region related to the inclusion of inmate labor in these plans. This research raises questions about how inmate labor may offset against the rising costs of disasters during a time when mass incarceration is under increased scrutiny. Furthermore, prisoners, who are disproportionately poor and minority, may be exposed to undue risks from this labor if the plans are implemented as written—increasing their social vulnerability to disasters.

Coordinating the Chaos: An Evaluation of Carceral Evacuations

“…Addressing this gap in the literature would require careful ethical consideration and adherence to the requirements of the IRB. Best practices concerning the use of inmate labor in disasters need further study as well; most state planning documents include some reference of inmate labor during times of disaster (Purdum & Meyer, 2020). Although not the focus of this study, the findings highlighted several methods for the effective use of inmate labor during disasters at both the county and state levels.…”

Considerations for creating equitable and inclusive communication campaigns associated with ShakeAlert, the earthquake early warning system for the West Coast of the USA

“…immigration status (Méndez et al. , 2020), incarceration status (Purdum and Meyer, 2020), family structure (Peek, 2008), among many others—that are beyond the scope of this paper. In an effort to contribute to the conversation about how social vulnerability affects communication research and practice, we very briefly explore these variables while recognizing the intersectionality and complexity of each.…”

Inequalities and interrelations: The sociology of disasters at a new crossroads

“…An additional area foregrounds how inequalities can be traced in two ways: (1) through a wide range of other social characteristics beyond race and gender such as with disability (King & Gregg, 2022; Peek & Stough, 2010), family and youth (Fothergill & Peek, 2015; McDonald‐Harker et al., 2022; Peek & Fothergill, 2008), housing (Howell & Elliott, 2019; Vickery, 2018), and incarceration (Purdum& Meyer, 2020), and (2) how these characteristics, along with race and gender, are intersectional. By intersectionality we refer to how a combination of identities are integral to understanding the contingent and multiplicative nature of social inequalities in the context of disasters (for helpful reviews on disasters and intersectionality, see Reid, 2013a and Ryder, 2017).…”