During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, ... Prisoners reported standing in chest-high water for days, with no food, water, or power. Some inmates were left locked in their cells as waters rose.

Hurricane Katrina was devasting, and it’s effects continue to today. It changed the way we all respond to disasters across the country and how we premeditate natural disasters.

NEW ORLEANS - SEPTEMBER 01: Police watch over prisoners from Orleans Parish Prison who were evacuated from their prison to the highway due to high water September 1, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Lt. Col. Sean Cross, chief of safety for the 403rd Wing of the Hurricane Hunters, is one of the few pilots who has been inside Hurricane Katrina.

As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, concern grows not just for coastal residents, but for a often-overlooked population: prison inmates. Recent history has shown that ...