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Good morning!
Each Sunday we analyze the racial disparities of COVID-19 and how you can help. Today, Renée outlines the crisis happening in prisons and jails across America. As we continue to rally to transform our criminal justice system, we cannot forget about how so many are suffering right here, right now. Read more stories on criminal justice here.
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Nicole
TAKE ACTION
Stay informed with The Marshall Project as it collects data on COVID-19 infections in state and federal prisons. You can view the website here.
Do you know your local or state prison? Are they allowing incarcerated people to make phone calls free of cost? If not, send an email using this template and customize it to your local or state prison.
GET EDUCATED
By Renée Cherez
As COVID-19 began making its way across America in March, the country came to the standstill of the century. Universities and schools closed their doors, nursing homes, and hospitals suspended visitation, restaurants, retail stores, and movie theaters stopped all operations to prevent the spread of this invisible virus.
Public health and safety seemed to be the utmost priority but not for the incarcerated. America's carceral system is disgustingly unique: Holding only 4% of the world's population, the United States imprisons the highest rate (20%) of incarcerated people globally (Prison Policy Initiative).
Prisons and jails are like Petri dishes where bacteria and disease spread rapidly due to close living quarters, limited to no cleaning supplies, overcrowding, and the inability to socially distance. Not only is the COVID-19 death rate of incarcerated people higher than the overall national rate, but the incarcerated are also infected by coronavirus at 5.5 times higher than the overall national rate (JAMA Network).
So far, the country’s highest cluster can be found in California’s San Quentin State Prison, where over 2,600 incarcerated people and staff have been infected, and 26 incarcerated people have died (NYT).
“I am very concerned [...]. There’s no way to social distance. We all eat together. We have a communal bathroom. There’s no way to address a public health issue in an overcrowded facility.”
An incarcerated person at San Quentin State Prison for the NYTimes
In June, Texas began testing every incarcerated person to find that both the incarcerated and staff tested positive quadruples of the number of positive cases to 7,900, resulting in 25 deaths (Prison Policy Initiative). Even more shocking is 60% of the (785 men out of 1,400) incarcerated at Michigan Lakelands Correctional Facility tested positive for the virus (Detroit Metro Times).
Like the general public, at the start of the spread, testing for the virus in prisons and jails was limited. Prisons are now mass testing the incarcerated and staff regardless of their symptoms to help slow the spread of the virus (The Marshall Project).
With over 170,000 coronavirus cases affecting the incarcerated and staff across the country, prison activists are demanding the release of vulnerable populations like the elderly. After decades of extreme sentencing as a result of the “war on drugs” and the “tough on crime” era, a large portion of the incarcerated in state prisons are over fifty-five years old and are more likely to be in poor health (The Marshall Project).
Without access to quality medical care, coupled with the brutal conditions of prison, seniors suffer from chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension, all underlying conditions that exacerbate COVID-19 (NCBI).
Family members, lawyers, and advocates have placed calls to prisons to grant early-release to the elderly, and the infirm to prevent more deaths as well as decrease the population. Frustratingly, research shows that out of 668 jails being tracked, 71% of them saw an increase in population from May 1 to June 22, while 84 jails had more people locked away on July 22, then they did in March (Prison Policy Initiative).
There has also been a push for those in jail pre-trial, detained for parole or probation violations, or near the end of their sentences to be granted early release.
“For the most part, states are not even taking the simplest and least controversial steps, like refusing admissions for technical violations of probation and parole rules, and to release those that are already in confinement for those same technical violations. Similarly, other obvious places to start are releasing people nearing the end of their sentence, those who are in minimum-security facilities and on work-release, and those who are medically fragile or older” (Prison Policy Initiative Report).
By the end of August, California could see the early release of 8,000 incarcerated people to slow the spread of the virus (LA Times). The releases will occur for those 30 or older, not serving time for what can be deemed a violent crime under state law and are not involved with domestic violence.
During this crisis, we all share the desire to stay connected with our friends and family. Some prisons and jails have begun allowing visitors. Still, most have not, which can be challenging mentally for the incarcerated as they rely on those visits from family, friends, advocates, and lawyers to keep their morale high (The Marshall Project). Because prisons are also a for-profit business, some are charging for phone and video calls during a time where unemployment numbers are similar to or greater than the Great Depression (The Intercept).
When we think of vulnerable populations, we must be diligent in keeping the incarcerated in our minds because they are often forgotten. They are real people, with real stories and families, and their health and safety should be prioritized and valued. Society shouldn’t be judged on how they resolve what can be deemed a crime, but rather how they treat those who’ve committed said crime. Incarcerated people deserve our compassion and advocacy too.
Key Takeaways
Incarcerated people are infected by coronavirus at 5.5 times higher than the overall national rate.
Of the 668 jails tracked by the Prison Policy Initiative, 71% of them saw an increase in population from May 1 to June 22 rather than a decrease.
California’s San Quentin State Prison has the largest cluster of COVID-19 cases in America.
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7/20/2020 | Protect your community from the harm of gentrification.
7/6/2020 | Abolish qualified immunity.
7/2/2020 | Remove police from our public schools.
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