In a crisis, government officials have been quick to abandon their responsibility to keep people in jails and prisons safe. This was especially true at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when officials allowed incarcerated people to die at over three times the rate of the general public and refused to provide them with vaccines. And it certainly continues to be true now, as climate change strains the already frayed infrastructure that incarcerated people endure.

During the summer, officials have allowed people in prison to suffer—and sometimes to die—without air conditioning. During the winter, arctic blasts have left thousands of incarcerated people freezing. When hurricanes make landfall, incarcerated people are only as safe as officials allow them to be—and sometimes officials have left them to risk their lives and even to die while others evacuate. When wildfires strike, they have been sent to the front line at low pay and extreme risk to help stop their spread. In fact, most state governments’ emergency preparedness plans are contingent upon incarcerated people working disaster relief.

The official disregard for the safety of incarcerated people during a crisis lies at the heart of a graphic narrative created by incarcerated artists Jared Bozydaj and Adam Roberts, in collaboration with Products of Our Environment. Set in the fictional Terrapin Correctional Facility, Evacuation Plan asks, “What is the plan if disaster strikes?” The story draws on the authors’ experiences at Fishkill Correctional Facility, which is located near the now-closed Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.

To learn more or request a printable version for an incarcerated friend or loved one, visit Products of Our Environment.

View as an accessible PDF

Jared Bozydaj is an incarcerated writer and activist. He is the co-founder of Products of Our Environment, a collaborative of scholars and artists working on issues of environmental justice and incarceration across the prison wall, which is supported by the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities.

Adam Roberts, a founding member of the Attica Writers’ Workshop, is a peer counselor, educator, and working visual artist. He has been in prison since 1999 and currently resides in Fishkill, New York, where he trains service dogs. You can read an excerpt of his forthcoming memoir, The Squeeze Machine, at adamrobertswrites.medium.com. He can be found on Instagram at @Adam_drawseverything.

Isabel Lane is a scholar and teacher whose work focuses on the intersections of literature and environmental harm—from nuclear weapons and waste to prisons and the environments they contain, border, and exist within. With Jared Bozydaj, she is the co-founder of Products of Our Environment. She is currently a lecturer in the Harvard College Writing Program.

CM Campbell received his BA in fine art with a studio emphasis at San Francisco State University, and his MFA in comics at California College of the Arts. His work as a comic artist can be most prominently found in editorial cartooning for publications like Hyperallergic and The Margins.

Jane Robbins Mize is a writer, teacher, and scholar. Her work focuses on the colonization and industrialization of North America and on human relations to the environment. She is currently an assistant professor of liberal arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a member of the working group Products of Our Environment.

David Pellow is professor and chair in environmental studies and director of the Global Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also a member of the Products of Our Environment working group.

Vera believes in using our platforms to elevate diverse voices and opinions, including those of people currently and formerly incarcerated. Other than Vera employees, contributors speak for themselves. Vera has not independently verified the statements made in this post.