Fort Myers Jail Inmate Recounts Harrowing Hurricane Ordeal

As Hurricane Ian plowed its way toward Florida's west coast earlier this week, Lee County declined to evacuate its downtown Fort Myers jail despite the fact that the facility is located in a mandatory evacuation zone prone to storm surges from the Caloosahatchee River.

Less than five blocks from the river, the jail is a booking facility where most inmates are awaiting court proceedings — meaning they have not been convicted of the charges for which they were arrested.

On September 28, Hurricane Ian made landfall, packing winds of 150 mph and decimating Fort Myers and the surrounding area. Its storm surge engulfed entire city blocks of the southwest Florida municipality's downtown district.

Late that evening, following the publication of a New Times story about the jail officials' decision to stay put, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno released a statement, declaring that inmates were safe.

"In an abundance of caution," the sheriff said, inmates had been "relocated within the main jail to a higher floor."

In contrast to the sheriff's reassurances, the daughter of one inmate tells New Times that her mother, a 60-year-old Lee County resident, rode out the hurricane in desperate straits alongside her fellow detainees at the downtown jail. 

The woman says her mother relayed to her that toilets were overflowing with human waste and that jail staff was providing cloudy brown water to drink. Some inmates had become hysterical, her mother told her.

"They have bottled water for the officials, but obviously they don't give it to [the inmates]," the daughter says. (The 21-year-old, also a Lee County resident, asked that her name not be published for fear of repercussions for her mother for speaking out.)

The daughter says that during the storm, as water seeped into the jail, inmates were moved into the lobby area. She claims there were reports of a fire breaking out in the complex and emergency responders urging the jail to consider an evacuation. "They said no, that they weren't going to evacuate. They were just gonna ride out the hurricane," the daughter says, citing her mother's narrative. 

The daughter adds that she called the sheriff's office to offer to donate water bottles, but that a staff member hung up after she complained about her mother's lack of access to drinking water.

Potable water is scarce in Lee County because the storm severely damaged utilities in the region. Many residents and businesses have unsanitary, contaminated water, or no water at all. The Army Corps of Engineers has been working with local officials to bring back potable water, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on September 30.

Rene Suarez, the inmate's attorney, tells New Times that before the storm hit, his client was set to secure a plea agreement that would have resulted in her release. Though she was arrested September 14, she couldn't get a hearing scheduled until Tuesday, September 27, the attorney says. The hearing was then canceled because of the incoming storm.

"No one was thinking about inmates who had no choice to leave. The majority of the people in the downtown jail have not been convicted of a crime," Suarez says.

When asked about the sheriff's decision not to evacuate, Suarez says, "The jail is right next to the river. It's insane."

Suarez, whose downtown law office was swamped with water during the storm, says he's working to free his client, but the local circuit court's schedule remains uncertain in the hurricane's wake. The woman was booked for allegedly violating pretrial release terms in a DUI case.

Interviewed on Friday, the inmate's daughter told New Times that her mother had been transported post-storm to the Lee County Core Facility, a medium/maximum-security jail with 1,216 beds that's located a nine-minute drive inland from the downtown jail. She says her mother told her corrections staff there scolded inmates for relaying their concerns about jail conditions to family members.

New Times has spoken with relatives of inmates at the core facility as well.

One woman, whose husband is incarcerated at the facility, tells New Times that as of Friday morning, he had been given only three Styrofoam cups of water since the storm hit. He described to her how inmates were without power –– and thus air-conditioning –– while officers at the facility enjoyed cool air.

Her husband told her jail officials had not ensured that inmates had an adequate supply of their medications.

"They are not giving meds," she says. "They have people that were taking psych meds that are now not taking them, cold turkey."

The Lee County Sheriff's Office hasn't responded to New Times' request for comment since the afternoon the storm struck. Before Ian made landfall, an LCSO spokesperson said, "In the event of an emergency, we have procedures in place."