Overlapping Crises: Climate Disaster Susceptibility and Incarceration

Kristen N. Cowan, Meghan Peterson, Katherine LeMasters and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein
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Kristen N. Cowan: Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Meghan Peterson: Center for Health Equity Research, Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Katherine LeMasters: Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein: Center for Health Equity Research, Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 12, 1-6

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.

Keywords: incarceration; climate; vulnerability; geography; disasters; preparedness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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