Flooded Jail Gets Temporary Power; Early Releases Considered

June 11, 2012

Temporary power has been restored to the Escambia County Jail after heavy rains flooded the  basement of the facility on Saturday, and authorities are looking at early and pretrial release options to decrease the number incarcerated at the lockup.

The basement of the facility was completely flooded, taking out electricity to the entire jail. With the restoration of temporary power, lights and fans returned on Sunday. The basement of the building was completely destroyed with some interior walls collapsing. The basement houses the kitchen and laundry facilities for the main jail.

Food is being brought to the main jail form the nearby jail annex.

Representatives from the State Attorney’s Office and a judge are reviewing cases to see if anyone is eligible for pretrial or early release. Only those with misdemeanor non-violent charges are eligible for consideration.

Comments

21 Responses to “Flooded Jail Gets Temporary Power; Early Releases Considered”

  1. JM on June 13th, 2012 8:27 am

    @What on my mind

    Your baby daddy in jail?
    Girl you might want to go back to school and find better people to be around
    especially for the sake of your past mistakes.
    That’s just want is on my mind right now.

  2. What on my mind on June 12th, 2012 10:11 pm

    Not all inmates are guilty some have change and i know one he is my baby father and he work an take care of his kids get to know someone before speaking bad about them because it might be you in there one day and people going to talk bad about you not knowing your situation why they in there, so i say get a life and worry about yourself and comment on your laws that you have broken.

  3. Richard on June 12th, 2012 5:20 pm

    This isn’t a new issue and there has been more than a “little” water issue in the past .he ball was dropped, this could have been fixed before this happened and it wasn’t.

  4. Not Impressed on June 11th, 2012 6:32 pm

    Sue-prize, sue-prize, sue-prize!!! And add a good old Gaw-aw-lee, from gomer the shurf of escambia countee!!! Here we have another heavy rain event that has put his dad-gum jail underwater, again. Has nothing been learned in fix’n problems in this county since Hurricane Ivan or Dennis which both did the very same thing? Nope! However, there is this small 4 to 5 million dollar expenditure of county tax money to build a fine new video court conference center right next door to this doomed water logged building. So, keep the momentum and all that… By the way, where was the county’s fearless leader wearing his self-madeup general’s uniform along with old active duty air force ribbons worn on the wrong side during this event? He never showed up on TV or any other media during this crisis. So this begs to question, where was he, and why wasn’t he leading from the front demonstrating his self-espoused air farce leadership skills during this event? He was probably conveniently out of town and is now blaming someone else for leaving all those vehicles in his flood zone.

  5. brent on June 11th, 2012 4:59 pm

    Early releases?… they are criminals, leave them in there, they are probably complaining that their cable tv is out.

  6. tj on June 11th, 2012 4:05 pm

    I think that they are going to send some to the road prison,, Well just put a shovel in there hands if some of them know how to use one,,if not but a rake they should know how to use that they rake around them plants…

  7. jeeperman on June 11th, 2012 3:27 pm

    The County Planning Board does not engineer anything.
    They only attempt to steer developments into the apprropriate area.
    This flooding is because of what has been built since the jail was built.
    You can only ad so much before the downstream drainage has to be improved.

  8. Me on June 11th, 2012 2:46 pm

    If everybody would participate in buying the inmates a chamois and a bucket, and let them soak up the water and put it in the bucket until the water is all out of the basement, they would be doing a honest day’s work, and for once earn their keep. Early release? Really? When do we catch a break? We as in the people who try to make ends meet, and work for a living?

  9. jay dub on June 11th, 2012 2:34 pm

    The General is done! That’s a humdinger!

  10. 429SCJ on June 11th, 2012 1:55 pm

    I wonder how many ECSD cruisers were taken out, as I have seen few the last couple of days? Could be responding in high water areas?

  11. No Excuses on June 11th, 2012 1:43 pm

    I am not being critical of the jail personnel or the Sherriff, but I do wonder why there were not emergency plans in place for just such an event. It is no secret that that part of Pensacola is prone to flooding during heavy rains and/or hurricanes. I know inmates at the federal prison here and at Eglin were moved to another prison when Ivan came through. What’s the contingency plan for such an event with our county inmates and the local jail? Can the inmates be farmed out to different facilities until repairs/alterations are made? In this way, full sentences can be served and more deserving inmates released first.

  12. FLA Girl on June 11th, 2012 1:24 pm

    Looks like a nice red Corvette got ruined…doubt they left it there intentionally..so perhaps the comment about the S.O. vehicle was not correct. Just sayin’…

  13. ron on June 11th, 2012 11:33 am

    I think the person that the suv is issued to should have to pay for the damages in stead of the tax payers or insurance there was plenty of time to move it to higher ground but this is a good example of the how the tax payers money is wasted lets get a new one!

  14. JM on June 11th, 2012 10:36 am

    @Molino Jim
    The Proof is in the pudding, no one has to be an engineer to know they did a poor job. THEY are supposed to know what kind of problems may come up in just a 2 day rain. This was not anything that horrible that we should have had the stupid JAIL CRUMBLE and have to release criminals, who have already been deemed not fit for roaming around loose among decent hard working people.

    I’m sorry but I think engineers should be able to build a jail that rain can not
    demolish!

  15. molino jim on June 11th, 2012 10:08 am

    This area has been ok in a couple of hurricanes only having minor problems with water. When you get three months plus worth of rain in a short time flooding happens. I have to wonder how many of the expert engineers here on line have taken the time to share their expert knowledge at a county planing board meeting? (the meetings are open to the public)

  16. Walnut Hill Roy on June 11th, 2012 7:39 am

    Guess who will have to pay for this “drainage oversight” to the tune of many millions of dollars. If you guessed the residents of Escambia County, you guessed right. Why would we put a jail in an area that would allow the parking lot and basement to flood? A hurricane could actually be worse, it’s time that we either find out which County employee approved the plan and which archetectural firm designed it.

  17. aa on June 11th, 2012 7:22 am

    the inmates are in jail because they were previously not eligible for pretrial release. now, because of a flood, their pretrial status has changed. they either belong in jail or don’t belong in jail – how does a flood change that. judges and lawyers are morons. justice based upon weather. ps – isn’t it the defense lawyers job to get their clients out of jail. this shows that they will let their clients sit in jail – they don’t care about justice either. its the lawyers/judges stupid. occupy the lawyer/judge industrial complex.

  18. Jane on June 11th, 2012 6:16 am

    The problem is not just a basement problem. That whole area down there has serious drainage issues…the pipes they put in are too small to accomadate the amount of water and sand (which clogs the pipes). The same thing happened out on 9th Ave. by the college. Larger pipes were installed and the flooding is not as bad. The other issue is low areas with no way to move the water into perk ponds or drainage ditches. It is an issue the city of Pensacola has refused to face since the 1960s.

  19. ???? on June 11th, 2012 6:14 am

    I think if there gonna release they should for the ones thats have been in the work camps that have nkt been in trouble just saying there are some in jail that havent been there as long as the work camp has ….they need to lower inmates time for good behaving and it would cost state of floida less js

  20. JM on June 11th, 2012 3:58 am

    There are kids today being bundled up together in places I WOULDN’T LIVE because they had to leave their flooded homes, ARE you saying our criminals can’t be bundled up together or do with out lights and AC. MOVE THEM and bundle up the little cry babies, and give them peanut butter for weeks.
    If it is good enough for the children of Escambia County to be 5 or 6 to a room and eat cold sandwiches without AC it is good enough for our criminals.

    That’s what is wrong with these cry babies, spoilt, spoiled, ROTTEN.
    If they get their little pitty pats wet and the place smells from damp, maybe
    they WILL FINALLY think twice about their chosen paths.

    If they don’t like where our tax money houses them OH-WELL.
    STOP STOP YOUR BREAKIN MY HEART

  21. just saying on June 11th, 2012 12:40 am

    A design flaw was revealed in this disaster. A basement in a hurricane or flood prone area will be.come an indoor swimming pool. Lets hope they dont simply repair the basement of the jail. Fix the design problem. The jail should be storm proofed before the next humdinger of a storm comes our way. Any details on the sheriff suv which appears flooded?