NY to open up prison for the displaced?

New York considering taking cues from The Walking Dead, may open up prison to displaced Staten Islanders

Boing Boing,

9 November, 2012

As you can imagine, the situation here in New York is dire, what with the still-large amount of people who have yet to even get their power back.

But Staten Island (and the Rockaways, and Long Beach, most of the south shore, not to mention Red Hook, parts of New Jersey... you get the idea) was hit particularly hard, with entire houses being destroyed.

According to Gothamist, 5,200 residents of the borough have filed for FEMA housing, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering one location specifically designed to provide a large amount of people (about 900) heat, food, and temporary shelter: Arthur Kill Correctional Facility. Yup. A prison.

That's been shut down for about a year. Sound familiar? Like the plot of the third season of The Walking Dead? Living in an abandoned prison makes sense, of course -- for all the same reasons it made sense as an option during a fictional zombie apocalypse. Wow, things are that bad? Some of those thousands of displaced residents might say it is. But it's just an idea at the moment. (via Gothamist)