More than 200 Manatee jail inmates evacuated from toxic flood threat at Piney Point
With the county jail inside the evacuation zone of a possible Piney Point flood, Manatee Sheriff Rick Wells revised his previous contingency plan, choosing instead to relocate more than 300 inmates.
In a Sunday morning news briefing, county officials said the sheriff’s office had determined there was enough space to house all jail personnel and inmates on the second floor of the facility.
“The sheriff has moved the medical unit and all personnel to the second floor, which puts them well over 10 feet above the base level,” Acting County Administrator Scott Hopes said at the time.
But late Sunday, those plans changed. Overnight, there were 267 inmates transferred to a correctional facility in Polk County, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Warren. All 267 inmates tested negative for the coronavirus before leaving the Manatee County jail and are being house in a facility separate from Polk County’s jail population.
Wells had initially ordered 345 inmates be relocated, but because of risks factors involving classification only 267 were transferred.
Staff at the jail is also working to get another 34 inmates moved who are at the jail with holds because of COVID-19 protocols before being transferred to the Florida Department of Corrections to begin serving prison sentences. Another 200 inmates can also be still be transferred to another undisclosed location should the need arise, according to Warren.
The remaining 721 inmates sheltered at the facility have been moved to the second floor — along with about 100 staff members and medical equipment. Additionally, sandbags have been placed at every entrance.
The sheriff’s office expects, at most, about a foot of floodwater if there is a breach at the Piney Point site.
“The reasoning for that is just to create better security for us within the facility on the upper level and to give us enough bed space for the remaining 721 inmates,” Warren said.
As the county and state officials work to pump the contents of a giant leaking pond at Piney Point, a former phosphate processing plant, into Tampa Bay, engineers fear it may collapse, sending nearly 300 million gallons of water rushing throughout the area.
More than 300 homes in a roughly one-mile radius are under an evacuation order, but those plans did not include sending inmates within the evacuation zone away. The jail sits across U.S. 41 highway from the Piney Point site.
The new development comes after state Rep. Michele Rayner, D-St. Petersburg, posted on Twitter that she was frustrated by a lack of communication with other state leaders. Rayner’s district includes parts of Manatee, Hillsborough, Sarasota and Pinellas counties.
“Essentially, I called Sheriff Wells directly because I’ve been shut out from the information from the state,” said Rayner, who said earlier Sunday that she had been notified of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ briefing with local leaders “only minutes” before it began.
After speaking with Wells, Rayner added that she is confident the plan will result in inmate safety.
“If it is executed the way it is explained to me, I don’t have a problem. My problem would’ve been there not being a plan and just moving folks to the second floor, which, in my understanding, would have been an extreme security risk and would’ve overburdened the jail,” Rayner said.
Warren noted that the sheriff’s office is receiving constant updates about developments at Piney Point and will move the inmates back as soon as it is safe.
“We’re not anticipating they’ll be gone very long,” Warren said. “And we’re feeling good that the situation at the jail is going to be OK.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2021 at 8:05 PM with the headline "More than 200 Manatee jail inmates evacuated from toxic flood threat at Piney Point."
