Prisoner Labor Throughout the Life Cycle of Disasters
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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 lowcost 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. statelevel 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 writtenincreasing their social vulnerability to disasters.
