Activists Want Inmates Near Piney Point Reservoir Evacuated

PALMETTO, FL — Tracey Washington grew anxious when her son didn’t call her for Easter. Usually, her son, an inmate at Manatee County Jail, contacted her on holidays.

“I hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, and it was strange he didn’t call on Easter,” she said.

Washington, a local activist and leader of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition’s Manatee County chapter, was already concerned for her son because of the news she was hearing about the reservoir wastewater breach at Piney Point, the site of a former phosphate processing plant.

Small leaks were first detected at the site’s main reservoir March 25. A larger breach was discovered Friday, causing the county to issue an evacuation order affecting more than 300 homes.

In recent days, county, local, regional, state and federal partners having been working around the clock to control the breach in hopes of preventing a flood of wastewater from hitting the area and the collapse of the radioactive phosphogypsum stacks at the site.

The Manatee County Jail at 14470 Harlee Road in Palmetto falls within the Piney Point evacuation zone. Initially, though, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office had no plans to move the inmates.

Washington called the jail Saturday evening and was surprised to learn they wouldn’t be evacuated during the crisis.

“You have all these residents evacuating, but you have (people) in the jail and you’re not evacuating them? It’s not important if you move them? You’re treating them like they’re not human because they made a mistake of some sort,” she said.

MCSO altered its plans by late Sunday afternoon, moving a portion of those jailed — 345 low-risk inmates — that evening. The remaining 721 inmates were moved to the jail’s upper level, Randy Warren, the MCSO public information officer, told Patch Sunday.

"Sheriff Rick Wells and staff are still in constant communication with officials on the situation and are feeling better with the ongoing progress of draining the stack. In the event of a collapse, we expect only about a foot of water making it onto jail property," he said Sunday.

Patch reached out to Warren Tuesday morning for additional information.

Washington finally heard from her son, who wasn’t one of the inmates moved from Manatee County Jail, Monday.

“It was the first time they were able to use the phone in a few days,” she said. “He told me, ‘I’m really not scared of a lot of things.’ And he isn’t. He’s usually really courageous and brave. ‘But I’ve got to tell you, I’m scared,’ he told me.”

The prisoners have been locked down and didn’t know about the potential wastewater collapse at Piney Point, she said.

“There was absolutely no movement and they weren’t telling them anything about what was going on,” Washington said. “He was panicking, and I was trying to get him out of panic mode, telling him, ‘Everything is gonna be ok.’”

After speaking with him, she knew she wanted to bring awareness to the situation at the jail.

“You know, I advocate on a daily basis for everybody around the community, but now this has hit home for me. My child is out there housed at the jail right now,” she said.

So, she reached out to another local activist, Eleuterio “Junior” Salazar, a former Bradenton City Council candidate.

“Let’s stand up for action,” she told him. “What do you want to do? Let’s get something going.”

Salazar also has a personal connection to the jail, as his uncle is an inmate there, and he expressed similar concerns.

“My uncle, her son, they’re very scared. They’re not being told anything. They’re being isolated. They’re being held in a freeze,” he said.

He also has questions about how the inmates evacuated were selected.

“When we talk about these few hundred, these 300 inmates that were evacuated, how were they chosen? We don’t know those things,” he said. “When they say low risk, it doesn’t mean anything. It also doesn’t account for the fact that these other inmates, these non-low-risk inmates or whatever the case may be, it doesn’t mean that their lives are any less valuable.”

There are too many questions about how a full breach at Piney Point, which county officials have said could unleash a 20-foot wall of wastewater in the area, would affect the jail, he added.

“They say the water won’t reach them on the second floor. They’ll be fine. But how do they know that? We’re charting on waters we have never tested before,” Salazar said. “How will the toxicity in this water affect the air? It doesn’t take a genius to know it will affect the air.”

The prison system also tends to “disproportionately jail people of color,” he added. “So, this will disproportionately affect those communities.”

Washington and Salazar immediately got to work, pulling together various non-profit organizations and activists in less than 24 hours for a protest Tuesday afternoon from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Protestors will meet at the intersection of Moccasin Wallow Road and U.S. Highway 41, just outside the evacuation zone and road closures.

Groups involved with Tuesday’s protest include the Leaders Rights Organization, Answer Suncoast, and Florida’s Party for Socialism and Liberation.

“We may not all have the same political views at all times, but it's important that the things we all have in common, we focus on,” Salazar said. “The cause is much greater than the smaller differences we have. We have to show the urgency is there for this particular purpose.”

Alaina Martinez, founder of the Leaders Rights Organization, said, “We have chosen to take a stand for the people today on this human rights issue. Our counties have chosen to disregard the threat that poses to inmates yet have deemed an imminent threat to the citizens surrounding the facility. It is not enough to move certain individuals from the jail! All human lives are to be valued.”

Learn more about Tuesday’s protest at the Facebook event page.

Related Stories:

• 7 Questions About The Florida Reservoir Wastewater Spill
• Inmates At Manatee County Jail Evacuated Sunday Evening
• Water 'Completely Safe To Drink' During Piney Point Crisis: Baugh
• Port Manatee Water Samples 'Meet Water Quality Standards': FDEP
• School Bus Transportation Suspended Near Piney Point Reservoir