Update: Galveston Jail Chief Standards Officer Hugely Relieved

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Earlier this week, rumors surfaced that the 1,000 inmates hadn't been able to bathe or wash their hands because of a lack of water and that some parts of the building were flooded.

Mr. Munoz, who toured the facility Friday, said that the conditions he found were the exact opposite and that inmates were never in danger.

When power went out, they had generators. Floodwaters never came close to breaching the building. And medical staff members were on duty before, during and after the storm.

Though inmates did have to use portable toilets and make efforts to conserve potable water immediately after the storm, Mr. Munoz said, the facility – which was "built to withstand a Category 5" hurricane – already has running water again.

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CHRISTINA9 (not verified)

at 06:26 on September 17th, 2008

CHRISTINA THIS WAS A VERY GOOD PAGE FOR PEOPLE TO VENT. JUST SO EVERYONE WHO HAS LOVED ONES IN THE JAIL, THEY ARE ALIVE! MY DAUGHTER CALLED HOME YESTERDAY, SHE SAYS THERE HOT, TIRED AND VERY PISSED OFF. NO POWER, RUNNING WATER.I'VE BEEN UP LIKE I SAID SINCE WE GOT DISCONNECTED FRIDAY ABOUT 3'30 IN THE AFTERNOON,SHE WAS CRYING TELLING ME THEY WERE LOCKING THEM DOWN AND THEY BETTER HAVE MADE THINGS RIGHT WITH GOD IF THEY HAD'NT DONE SO YET. THESE SO CALLED OFFICIALS SHOULD STILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE PAIN THAY HAVE CAUSED1000 PLUS PEOPLE. THEY MAY BE INMATES ,BUT THERE STILL HUMAN BEINGS. ALSO YOUR INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!THANKYOU CHRISTINA,AND I WILL BE WRITING A COMPLAINT ,WHEN EVERYTHING IS BACK TO NORMAL.

GALVESTON — Frustration was brewing at the Galveston County jail this morning, but not from the inmates.

Dudley Anderson — the architect of the Galveston County Justice Center, which includes the jail, courts and law enforcement offices — said the Federal Emergency Managment Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers are letting rule books get in the way of supplying generators and, thus, air flow to the estimated 1,000 inmates in the jail.

"We've been trying to get some power hooked up inside the justice center," Anderson said. "There's a small one in there now, but they need power."

While President Bush was inside the facility talking with officials this morning, Anderson and other contractors were outside complaining that the government is getting in the way.

Anderson said the only generator in the jail this morning was supplying a small operator area. He had another generator ready to help a bit with air flow, but the large generators expected from the federal government are what he's frustrated about.

"FEMA won't turn loose of the generators until they inspect the area themselves. They keep saying that will be tomorrow. I've heard that for days," he said. "We know the exact size we need. We told them. Apparently, that's difficult for them to accept."

Anderson said that, without air circulating in the closed facility in this climate, mold and mildew can start growing everywhere. The lack of water and properly working toilet facilities exacerbates the problem, he said.

Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough said search and rescue efforts would be fully under way today as more help streamed into the county.

The sheriff’s office didn’t evacuate county prisoners, and Yarbrough said they were unharmed as Saturday’s storm surge failed to reach the county jail or Justice Center on 57th Street.

“The good Lord took care of those 1,050 inmates,” Yarbrough said. “There was no rising water, but some wind-driven rain did make it into the law building.”

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In Galveston, despite the order to leave, officials decided not to evacuate the 1,000 prisoners at the county jail for security reasons.

The effects of the storm were being felt as far away as New Orleans, where winds from Hurricane Ike’s outer bands gusted Friday morning at more than 50 m.p.h. The storm surge forced the closing of floodgates on drainage canals in the city, and people in coastal communities at its suburban edge were ordered to evacuate. The storm’s surge flooded roads and streets around coastal Louisiana on Friday afternoon, with the small communities close to the Gulf of Mexico reporting as much as two feet of water in some places.

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Mandatory evacuations with approximate population totals where available

• Brazoria County (288,000 people)
• Jefferson County (244,000)
• Orange County (84,000)
• Galveston County (283,987)
• Galveston Island (58,000)
• The city of La Porte (34,200)
• Eastern portion of San Patricio County
• Low-lying areas of Harris County ("tens of thousands," according to county officials)
• Low-lying areas of Chambers County
• Areas south of Texas 35 and the Blessing area in Matagorda County
• Goose Island and Mustang Island state parks

Voluntary evacuations

• Hardin County
• Areas north of Texas 35 in Matagorda County, as well as for residents of low-lying areas of Bay City and Van Vleck.
• The city of Kingsville.
• About 5,000 prison inmates were relocated from areas threatened by the storm to facilities farther inland, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said

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GALVESTON — Officials with the Galveston County Sheriffs Office fielded calls Friday from relatives of prisoners, who weren’t evacuated from Galveston ahead of Hurricane Ike’s anticipated landfall.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, citing security concerns, declined to discuss plans for the jail, which holds roughly 1,300 prisoners. “The inmates are safe, sound, and the jail is high and dry,” Tuttoilmondo said.

Dorothy Nuzzo said her son David Pain called her at 3:15 p.m., using a calling card.

“I heard this morning they were supposed to evacuate around noon,” Nuzzo said. “He said, ‘Mom. I’m worried, scared and hungry. All of us are here cramped into this little room on the first floor. The flood waters are rising and we’re not going to evacuate.’”

Nuzzo said her son didn’t see water in the jail, but heard it was rising on the island.

“I called but they’re not answering the phones. It’s ludicrous they left the inmates there.”

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However, this concern for human life may not extend to one group of people who can’t leave the low-lying barrier island if they want—the 1,000 inmates at the Galveston County Jail. As of 10 a.m. Friday, the prisoners still had not been evacuated to the mainland. Sheriff’s department spokesman Ray Tuttoilmondo told the <a href=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5997765.html>Houston Chronicle</a> that “the prisoners and their safety and well-being are paramount and it will be handled” and any decision to move the prisoners would be kept secret for security reasons.

This may be. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that one of the many horrors of Hurricane Katrina was the <a href=http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=20&p=1>abandonment of the prisoners at Orleans Parish Prison (OPP)</a> who were locked in and left to their fate when floodwaters rose and their guards fled for high ground. Many inmates survived (just barely) standing in chest deep water for a day-and-a-half with no food or water before they were hauled away in some cases to maximum security state prisons. It is believed that some of the inmates at OPP <a href=http://www.democracynow.org/2005/9/13/after_katrina_where_have_all_the>drowned in their cells</a>.

Keep in mind that those held in local jails are often petty criminals at worst, people tagged for public drunkenness, bounced checks, unpaid traffic tickets or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s likely that a substantial number of the inmates at the Galveston County Jail have been convicted of nothing at all and languish in jail because they cannot make bail and be released in advance of their trial date. And most of these people have families who are likely freaking out about what’s going to become of them. So hopefully the sheriff’s department was just being coy about its plans and has done the right thing in regards to the prisoners. If so, at least one needless tragedy will be avoided in what is likely to be an enormous catastrophe.

GALVESTON — About 1,000 prisoners and a full jail staff remained in the Galveston County Jail on Galveston Island this morning, even as the island began to be battered by the onslaught of Hurricane Ike.

The reason for not evacuating the prisoners is a security issue and cannot be discussed, sheriff's spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said.

"The prisoners and their safety and well-being are paramount and it will be handled," Tuttoilmondo said.

Any decision to move the prisoners would be kept secret for security reasons, as happened before Hurricane Rita in 2005, he said.

"We did this during Rita and no one knew until it was absolutely done," Tuttoilmondo said.

The prisoners were in the jail as of 10 a.m. today, leaving little time to transfer them to the mainland. Hurricane-force winds are expected to strike the island later today, making exit across the causeway to the mainland difficult.

Tuttoilmondo declined to say how many deputies were at the jail, but said a full jail staff and relief shifts remained on duty at the lockup at 57th Street and Broadway.

He also declined to discuss measures the Sheriff's Office would take to make sure the prisoners and jail staff remained safe if a storm surge floods the jail.

The structure was specially designed to withstand hurricanes, Tuttoilmondo noted.