To End the Pandemic, Protect Prisoners

To End the Pandemic, Protect Prisoners
BY
December 29, 2020
W
hen COVID-19 hit the United States in March, criminal justice activists mobilized on behalf of prisoners. They warned preventative measures such as social distancing would be impossible in prisons. Rapid spread among inmates would deplete healthcare resources. A March 27th letter signed by over 40 public health experts called federal prisons and immigration detention centers “breeding grounds for uncontrolled transmission” of the virus.
The autumn and winter waves of COVID-19 have been especially punishing for incarcerated men and women. In September, 44 of 50 COVID-19 clusters were in prisons. In Texas, the virus has killed more than 230 people in jails and prisons, 80% of whom had not been convicted of a crime. In November, the number of cases in Michigan prisons more than doubled in two weeks. A Minnesota organizer called his state’s soaring rate of prison infections “a human rights disaster.”

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