As Florida braces for Hurricane Irma, we look at conditions in Texas prisons since Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast two weeks ago with a historic downpour that lasted several days and caused massive flooding. Prisoners were not evacuated from either the federal prison or three Texas prisons in the heavily flooded city of Beaumont, east of Houston, where high water was so destructive that it disabled the city’s water supply system. State prison officials say water did not flood prisons there. But a prisoner named named Clifton Cloer, who is housed on the first floor of the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, told his wife that he stood in water up to his kneecaps during the storm and later faced the stench of backed-up toilets. We speak to Rachel Villalobos, who has been in touch with her husband who is held at the Federal Correctional Complex in Beaumont; Lance Lowry, the president of AFSCME Local 3807 of the Texas Correctional Employees; and Democracy Now! correspondent Renée Feltz.
Transcript
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AMY GOODMAN: Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic storm ever recorded, laid waste to parts of the Caribbean overnight, pummeling Turks and Caicos, hammering the Bahamas and taking aim at South Florida, home to millions. The storm’s death toll rose to 18, but officials warn the figure will increase as rescue workers search through the rubble on islands that have seen over 90 percent of all buildings destroyed.
Well, as Florida braces for Hurricane Irma, we now take a look at conditions in Texas prisons since Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast two weeks ago with an historic downpour that lasted several days and caused massive flooding. Prison officials say about 4,500 prisoners remain evacuated. This is Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Bryan Collier giving an update Wednesday.
BRYAN COLLIER: We currently still have the Ramsey 1, the Terrell and the Stringfellow units evacuated. Those units remain largely dry; however, many of the outbuildings, support services areas, appear to be wet, and we’re still trying to work to get a full assessment of the damage done at those locations.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, prisoners were not evacuated from either the federal prison or three Texas prisons in the heavily flooded city of Beaumont, east of Houston, where high water was so destructive it disabled the city’s water supply system. State prison officials say water did not flood prisons there. But a prisoner named Clifton Cloer, who is housed on the first floor of the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, told his wife he stood in water up to his kneecaps during the storm and later faced the stench of backed-up toilets.
For more, we go to Texas, where we’re joined in Dallas by Rachel Villalobos, who has been in touch with her husband who’s held at the Federal Correctional Complex in Beaumont. She says prisoners there faced mistreatment during flooding related to Hurricane Harvey. In Houston, we’re joined by Lance Lowry, president of AFSCMELocal 3807 of the Texas Correctional Employees, the union which represents Texas prison employees. Also with us, Democracy Now! correspondent Renée Feltz, who I just left in Houston. She’s back in her hometown.
We welcome you all to Democracy Now! Let us begin right now with Rachel Villalobos. Can you describe when your husband called you and what he said was happening in Beaumont, in the Beaumont prison he’s in, Rachel?
RACHEL VILLALOBOS: He called me September 2nd from prison for the first time since August 27th. And he explained the amount of food they were getting, which was two sandwiches a day, eight ounces of water. He said that the prison did get water in it, that all the inmates are using the number one and number two in bags, just to reserve the toilet water, so they could drink the toilet water. I explained to him, "Don’t drink the toilet water. Don’t drink that water in Beaumont." You know, it has bacteria and all kinds of infestations in it. And he said, at this moment, he didn’t care. If the water didn’t kill him, then the situation was going to kill him. He said he was so dehydrated that when he woke up, his eyelids were sticking to his eyeballs. His tongue was sticking to the top of his mouth. That’s how severely dehydrated he was due to the lack of water.
AMY GOODMAN: Wait. Can you explain again, what were they given in bags?
RACHEL VILLALOBOS: No, they was using the restroom in bags, to preserve the toilet water.
AMY GOODMAN: And the AC, air conditioning? I mean, it is, to say the least, hot in Houston, in Beaumont. And with everything that had happened, the power had gone out. The AC was out?
RACHEL VILLALOBOS: Yes. They had no power. They had the generators that they were turning on and off. The AC—they didn’t have no AC for a good while. The 27th was the last time I believe they had the AC. I just got a message from him saying they did have AC for four to five days. But again, I was told that the officers there are watching him and telling him what to write. So, right at this moment, I don’t know what to believe, but that I was told from other inmates’ wives that they did not have AC, either.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, there are a lot of rumors that go around at times like this, you know, in prison and outside of prison, but you got reports that two prisoners died from drinking the toilet water? Is that what you heard?
RACHEL VILLALOBOS: I have emails from inmates saying, yes, quoted, "Another inmate has passed already." And then, at the bottom of the email, it said that this guy collapsed due to him drinking water, that the guards rushed to him. Yes, but I did get confirmation that two inmates from the Low, Beaumont Low, have passed away due to this.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, the federal officials have responded. They said there have not been any inmate fatalities as a result of Hurricane Harvey or otherwise at FCC—that’s Federal Correctional Complex—Beaumont. This is TDCJ—that’s the Texas Department of Criminal Justice—Executive Director Bryan Collier giving an update Wednesday on water access for prisoners in Beaumont, where the floodwaters disabled the city’s water supply system.