Prisons, Prisoners and Disaster

To date, the fate of prisons and prisoners in disaster has stirred very limited attention from both scholars and policy makers. However, anecdotic evidences suggest that both prisons and prisoners are particularly affected by disastrous events associated with external natural and other hazards. In fact, the spatial, social and political forms of exclusion and marginalisation associated with imprisonment coincide with factors which make some places and people more vulnerable. This study explores those linkages between imprisonment, marginality and vulnerability to natural and other hazards around three axes: (1) a spatial form of marginalization through the geographical, potentially hazardous, location of prisons and their secluded nature which isolates them from the outside world and assistance in facing hazards; (2) a social form of marginalisation which deprives already impoverished prisoners from further access to economic opportunities, health resources and interpersonal relationship which have all proved critical drivers of people’s vulnerability; (3) a political form of marginalisation which includes limited resources made available by the state and its agencies leading to poor, potentially vulnerable, and overcrowded facilities, along with prison’s lack of visibility in governmental disaster-related policies. This study draws upon a scoping study conducted in three prisons in France completed with sparse evidences available from the academic literature, government reports and media accounts. It further suggests ways forward for better integrating prisons and prisoners in disaster risk reduction policies.