Reports from the Galveston County Jail, where 1,000 inmates were not allowed to evacuate during Hurricane Ike, are raising concerns of unsanitary conditions and inhumane treatment at the facility.
"They're just sitting there, they're desperate, it's disease waiting to happen," said Shirley Rutledge, a Hardin County resident whose son, an inmate there, told her they haven't been able to bathe or wash their hands because water is in short supply. "This is inhumane treatment for them. ... And now the mayor is saying the city is uninhabitable. So does that mean uninhabitable for everyone except the prisoners?"
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Ms. Rutledge, however, said her son reports a tinderbox atmosphere inside the jail.
"He told me this afternoon, 'I feel like, in here, that if somebody snaps their fingers, there's going to be a riot,' " Ms. Rutledge said.
Two days ago FEMA would still not provide generators.
A group that calls itself Christian has provided the jailers, who must not have an easy job, with hygiene kits. Unfortunately, the incarcerated don't have even the basic means to clean themselves, so even with provisions their guards are in danger of contagion.
Many of these prisoners are held for minor drug offences, DUI, or are simply awaiting trial. Some of them aren't much older than children. It is immoral not to resolve this situation.
What went so horribly wrong in America?