I was wondering today what Prisons will do if there’s an EMP or solar event. I live in Dallas but my country backup is surrounded by prisons.
You don’t have to worry about the prisons. Fact - they already have an end plan for this. Just make sure you aren’t picked up for jaywalking the night before.
I know in the event of a blackout, prison doors automatically lock.
I'm sure they have a backup plan. The problem is, if they can't implement it properly or completely. If they can't move them, they are most likely to just let them go. I'm sure they just wouldn't leave them locked up to starve - or if they just left them there somebody would eventually be along to let them out. The authorities would probably figure the most "humane" thing would be to release them. You can be sure they would not shoot them rather than let them go. They would not be thinking clearly about the ultimate consequences of this but they probably wouldn't commit mass murder of these prisoners.
That means, you will have roving gangs of criminals around with nothing to survive on except what they can loot or steal. They would have nothing to lose and nothing on their minds except taking advantage of the situation and survival. Once they got started there would be large numbers of them banded together. They would be well armed from their loot, and they would be ruthless in getting more and surviving.
Remember, these are not good people to start with. Many of them would already be accomplished thieves and killers. It would be a nightmare. It would not end well for any "peaceful" citizens they decided to exploit.
They would be the ultimate chaos factor.