Overlapping Crises: Climate Disaster Susceptibility and Incarceration

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Cowan, Kristen N.
- Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
Peterson, Meghan
- School of Medicine, Department of Social Medicine
LeMasters, Katherine
- Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
Brinkley-Rubinstein, Lauren
- School of Medicine, Department of Social Medicine

Abstract

Climate-related disasters are becoming more frequent all over the world; however, there is significant variability in the impact of disasters, including which specific communities are the most vulnerable. The objective of this descriptive study was to examine how climate disaster susceptibility is related to the density of incarceration at the county level in the United States. Percent of the population incarcerated in the 2010 census and the Expected Annual Loss (EAL) from natural hazards were broken into tertiles and mapped bivariately to examine the overlap of areas with high incarceration and susceptibility to climate disasters. Over 13% of counties were in the highest tertile for both incarceration and EAL, with four states containing over 30% of these counties. The density of incarceration and climate disaster susceptibility are overlapping threats that must be addressed concurrently through (1) decarceration, (2) developing standardized guidance on evacuated incarcerated individuals during disasters, and (3) more deeply understanding how the health of everyone in these counties is jeopardized when prisons suffer from climate disasters.

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