Citation
Cowan, Kristen N.; Peterson, Meghan; LeMasters, Katherine; & Brinkley-Rubinstein, Lauren (2022). Overlapping Crises: Climate Disaster Susceptibility and Incarceration. International Journal for Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(12), 7431. PMCID: PMC9224462Abstract
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.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127431Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2022Journal Title
International Journal for Environmental Research and Public HealthAuthor(s)
Cowan, Kristen N.Peterson, Meghan
LeMasters, Katherine
Brinkley-Rubinstein, Lauren
Article Type
ReportPMCID
PMC9224462Data Set/Study
Marshall ProjectContinent/Country
United States of AmericaState
NonspecificORCiD
LeMasters - 0000-0002-1754-1730Cowan - 0000-0001-6912-4755