[For the latest forecasts and storm news, read our live briefing.]

South Carolina officials have repeatedly urged coastal residents to flee Hurricane Florence, warning of danger and even death. But they have rejected calls to move the inmates of a state prison in a mandatory evacuation zone.

In the path of the storm is the MacDougall Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison about 35 miles northwest of Charleston that houses 651 inmates. The area is under an evacuation order issued by Gov. Henry McMaster.

Spokesmen for the South Carolina prison system and governor’s office did not return phone calls or emails on Thursday, but an official who answered the phone at MacDougall prison said it would not be evacuated.

At a news conference Wednesday, Governor McMaster said it would be better not to move the inmates.

“The analysis so far is that it’s toward the edge of one of the evacuation zones, and because of its placement and because of the types of buildings and a lot of other considerations, it’s safer to stay on campus than it is to try to get off,” he said. “That is the safest place for those people to be at this time.”