Jail Protocol for Natural Disasters

In schools, workplaces, and even churches we prepare a plan for any natural disaster yet not many people know or maybe have never even wondered about the protocol of a jail or prison in these situations. As a daughter of a Napa Jail inmate and a resident who hopes to someday become a criminal defense lawyer I questioned this protocol when a 6.0 earthquake shook my town. So like every teenager I took to the Internet with my question.

Typical protocol states that only if conditions become severe are any inmates evacuated from the facility. It is possible that if conditions are that sever that inmates will spend more than a day outside of the facility. If the facility is by any chance not able to reopen within three days inmates will be transferred to another facility while renovations are made. This time period may take up to a year and at times more according to damage. Jails and prisons are required to plan for both long term and short term natural disasters. Step one of any emergency plan for a jail or prison is to notify city of activated emergency plan. Second is to ensure the safety of staff by making sure staff outnumbers inmate population. If that jail or prison is majorly outnumbered they are allowed to call in assistance from nearby facilities. Third is to secure all inmates for evacuation.   Mutual-aid agreements have to be in place for public safety. Most facilities receive this aid from U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There must also be provided escorts and security for evacuated inmates. Staff accompanying inmates to evacuation sites who stay with them for the duration of the evacuation period must be provided staff overtime, compensation for housing, relocation, and travel. At the evacuation site staff will make final agreement on comfort level of inmates. This includes housing and bedding. Also at place of evacuation must be a medical contractor with files of all inmates medical history to ensure the well being of each inmate. Staff is not to sleep in same quarters as inmates. They are provided hotel rooms if necessary. Staff take the responsibility for their inmates at the host facility or evacuation site preform 12-hour shifts. Natural disasters usually come by surprise. Therefore all staff must be prepared for a rapid evacuation. This includes preparing for any escapes and/or riots. Because of the fast nature of these evacuations inmates are not given time to collect any material property or unnecessary items. Usually in cases of quick evacuation high risk or maximum security inmates are evacuated first as to lower rate of their escape. Once all inmates are evacuated there is head count done on all staff and inmates. After headcount all inmates are transported to evacuation site via prison buses where they are shackled by hands and feet to each inmate on the bus. If the bus is to experience a mechanical problem all inmates will be recounted re-shackled and transferred to another working bus. The earthquake early Sunday morning in Napa, California did not however require an evacuation from the building. Although the building is "yellow tagged" for its internal and external damage it was too minor to cause staff to activate the emergency plan. However inmates we're allowed one phone call to reach their loved ones. As of now all building use is restricted to staff and inmates. This includes the current shut down of Napa County Jail's latest video calls.

Introduction

I am Kimberly Jessica Ramirez Gonzalez daughter of Rosa Hilda Gonzalez and Pablo Ramirez. I've moved every two to three years in my life and with each move I've changed my name. I've been called Kimberly, Kimmy, Kim, Jessica (my middle name), Jessie, Jess, and lastly Jay. My senior year of high school however I've decided to return and fully embrace my legal first name. I am currently as I make this blog seventeen years of age. I attend Napa High School as a senior(Go Napa Indians!) and also part take in college classes offered at the local junior college, Napa Valley College. I am first generation Mexican-American or as I like, first generation Chicano.

Amy Tan once said, "I have a writer's memory which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was." this proves true to my situation. My memory focuses more on tough times however some hard times are also the best of times. Sometimes you only need a couple of years and a few bad graces to realize those 'bad times' were in reality some of the best times. Speaking of hardships sometimes they are blessings in hiding. I was recently award the Students Rising Above scholarship for overcoming all the hardships in my life while maintaining my grades. 

Growing up I discovered I held a fierce passion for literature. This passion was unveiled by loneliness and depression yet it is the best gift my hard times have given to me. Just as Ernest Hemingway once said, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed...", I do not write I bleed stories. I love to read and write. Yes I am one of those sick people who always has their nose stuck in a novel. I work on my writing by publishing fictional stories online. One of my recent favorite online sites to publish my work is on Wattpad. Yes I do still however have my Fan Fiction account holding all of my humiliating middle school writing.

Although I'd love nothing more than to pursue a career in literature I do not wish to be a starving artist. Instead I plan to either study business or become a criminal defense lawyer. Whichever path I may choose I hope the path leads me to a life of happiness and success where I will test my boundaries and make a change in another persons life. I want to protect, help, and inspire people.