Posts after April 11th are deleted by month. For example, May was removed, the next month June will be removed, etc. You will always have at least three months of archive.
Harvey Weinstein Tests Positive For Coronavirus In NY State Prison; Convicted Producer In Isolation:
https://deadline.com/2020/03/coronavirus-harvey-weinstein-positive-test-prision-1202889800/
Twenty-Three Killed, Scores Injured in Prison Riot Over COVID-19 in Bogota, Colombia:
Justice Department asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies:
Hundreds of Monroe prisoners create massive disturbance after inmates test for COVID-19
Inmate Protest Over COVID-19 Response Forces North Portland Prison Into Lockdown
Fearing outbreaks and riots, nation’s prison and jail wardens scramble to respond to COVID-19 threat
Inmates Brace For Virus Outbreak, While Oregon Considers Early Release
https://www.opb.org/news/article/coronavirus-covid-19-prison-oregon-inmates/
355 COVID-19 Cases at Cook County Jail the Largest in the Nation
'I don't think anybody was ready for this Covid,' says head of federal prisons
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/10/politics/exclusive-interview-bop-carjaval/index.html
Inmates At His Prison Are Getting No Medical Care For COVID-19
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/melissasegura/prison-inmates-covid-19-coronavirus
An outbreak could seriously harm staff, the incarcerated, and the surrounding community. Releasing inmates could help—if they have somewhere to go.
https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-covid-19-jails-prisons/
Former state Rep. Oliver Robinson, convicted in a federal bribery case, was released from a federal prison in Texas on Friday because of the risk due to COVID-19.
Idaho cannot let inmates out before they serve the fixed portion of their sentence or let offenders out without a parole plan, and commutation is more complicated in this state than in some others.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article243211101.html
“The TDCJ has already gone above and beyond in its efforts to protect inmates from COVID-19, and prison officials need flexibility, not immovable ...
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/05/texas-prison-coronavirus-lawsuit/
New Jersey prisoners denied a medical furlough or parole in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic have the right to appeal these determinations and courts must decide on individual appeals within a week of their filings, the state Supreme Court ordered Friday.
The ACLU said one-fifth of the inmate population at Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Ohio is infected.
NBC News, June 5, 2020
Alabama Political Reporter, June 5, 2020
Four more prison workers and three inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, the Alabama Department of Corrections announced Thursday.
https://www.alreporter.com/2020/06/05/more-prison-workers-inmates-test-positive-for-covid-19/
WTTW News, June 4, 2020
New research has found that nearly one in six cases of COVID-19 in Chicago and Illinois can be connected to people moving through the Cook County Jail, which at one point was dubbed the “largest-known source” of coronavirus cases in the U.S.
https://news.wttw.com/2020/06/04/report-1-6-chicago-covid-19-cases-can-be-tied-cook-county-jail
Prison facilities across the U.S. have become hotspots for COVID-19 cases. More than 34,000 people in prisons across the U.S. have tested positive for the novel coronavirus
https://www.sideeffectspublicmedia.org/post/you-asked-how-bad-covid-19-prisons
California's prisons resumed processing inmates this week for the first time since Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended their intake from county jails in March.
What's missing in prisons. Two of the most critical elements to getting through the coronavirus pandemic — social distancing and widespread testing for ...
https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-prisons-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak-testing-issues/
The inmate cases are concentrated in 11 prisons in various parts of the state, including Homestead Correctional Institution, Hamilton Correctional ...
... sick with COVID-19, when he overheard something unusual. A correctional officer distributing soap and toilet paper to the inmates mentioned that ...
Siding with advocates who contend the state has failed to protect inmates from the spread of COVID-19, a North Carolina judge ruled Monday that the state prisons must come up with a plan for testing every inmate.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article243380396.html
As the coronavirus pandemic has swept through Arkansas during the last three months — nearly 1,200 inmates in four of the state’s prisons have tested positive for COVID-19. At least 134 staff working at eight state prisons have also tested positive.
Like Paul Manafort, Mike Yepremian has a long list of health problems that place him at high risk of dying of COVID-19. He has diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and respiratory failure and sepsis, some of the same ailments that have afflicted Donald Trump’s former presidential campaign chairman.
This March, Brooks said she was working as a detention officer when she started hearing that her co-workers were getting sick with coronavirus. But for ...
https://www.kqed.org/news/11823564/as-covid-19-surges-through-prisons-guards-and-inmates-sue
The 14-day trend line shows new infections in Texas have risen about 71% in the past two weeks.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/08/texas-coronavirus-cases-prisons-meatpacking-plants/
A group of people gathered outside of the penitentiary to demand Gov. Tom Wolf to release inmates who are vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Wynne Unit in Huntsville has had at least 10 deaths connected to the new coronavirus. In letters, inmates said conditions were unsanitary and disorganized, and sick men often went untested.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/08/texas-prison-coronavirus-deaths/
The ACLU sought widespread release of people held in the state’s jails and prisons, but lawyers for the state argued that doing so would threaten public safety. The settlement does not require that prisoners be released.
Protestors gathered outside Avenal State Prison Saturday, trying to bring attention to a coronavirus outbreak there that has spread to more than 700 people.
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted every facet of the criminal justice system, from the moment someone comes into contact with law enforcement to trial and incarceration.
Of the more than 2,200 inmates at the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, 986 have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Saturday, authorities said. That’s more than six times the number of inmates who had tested positive at that facility last week, and the most of any facility in California’s prison system.
A third inmate at Sterling Correctional Facility in northeastern Colorado has died of COVID-19, state public health officials said Wednesday, a grim addition to one of the state’s largest outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.
Coyote Ridge Corrections Center has put its medium-security unit on restricted movement because of an outbreak of the new coronavirus. The means 1,815 inmates of the medium-security unit are in quarantine and not interacting with healthy people because they were potentially exposed to the virus. As of June 11, 30 corrections officers and 71 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement by the agency. An additional 33 individuals have been isolated and kept away from healthy people because they have symptoms consistent with the virus.
Federal prison inmates say they’re enduring unnatural punishment as coronavirus ravages communities around the globe. The virus is already behind Terre Haute prison walls and many inmates fear they may suffer a sentence greater than any crime they committed.
Five members of the Albemarle Correctional Institution recently tested positive for COVID-19, according to John Bull, communications officer for North Carolina’s prison system.
In prisons, many of the public health recommendations for coronavirus prevention — 6 feet of social distancing, frequent hand-washing, and wearing ...
https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/12/california-institution-for-men-covid19-outbreak/
Hundreds of nonviolent New Mexico prison inmates, including people convicted of drug possession, remained behind bars last week, even as one in three inmates at the Otero County Prison are Covid positive.
An Indiana Department of Correction policy may increase the spread of coronavirus in prisons by requiring “high risk” and “medium risk” staffers to report to work.
New Jersy: Inmates’ family members among those who say efforts to contain spread of the virus were inadequate; Assemblyman left with ‘probably more questions than answers’
Behind the walls of the Hutchins State Jail in southern Dallas County, the inmates are afraid they will contract COVID-19. So are the ...
While Colorado’s total coronavirus cases have declined in recent weeks, outbreaks inside Colorado’s prisons and jails have continued to grow. In the Sterling Correctional Facility, 561 inmates have tested positive for the virus according to the latest data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. That’s up by 120 from late last month.
California is starting to require COVID-19 testing for workers at more prisons, the CDCR announced Tuesday.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article243427161.html
At least 40,656 people in U.S. prisons have tested positive for COVID-19 as of June 2, including more than 6,000 people last week alone — the ...
The Arizona Department of Corrections is extending the suspension of visitations at state prisons as the number of COVID-19 positive cases among inmates and staff continues to rise. The Department of Corrections says it is extending the suspension of legal and non-legal visitation at all state prisons through July 13.
Prisons across the country have placed prisoners on lockdown — they're kept in their cells mostly around-the-clock — as a way to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Now prison reformers are worried that the response has increased the use of a practice they've long fought: solitary confinement.
Prison officials have been reluctant to do widespread virus testing even as infection rates are escalating.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/us/coronavirus-inmates-prisons-jails.html
Three days after Gov. Kate Brown sent a list of criteria to the state’s Department of Corrections, making it clear she’d consider releasing inmates who qualified, fellow Democrats in Oregon’s Legislature are pushing back. According to the DOC, the governor’s plan would tap close to 100 inmates for early release. Lawmakers want her to consider releasing close to 2,000.
a new Special Report entitled “Solitary Confinement Is Never the Answer,” documenting the impacts and risks associated with the estimated 500 percent increase in the use of solitary confinement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The inmates released were serving time for minor offences. Prisoners fearing contagion with the virus in jam-packed prisons have staged several riots.
https://www.trtworld.com/americas/peru-frees-1-500-inmates-over-covid-19-fears-37289
A fast-spreading COVID-19 outbreak at Kentucky’s prison for women in Shelby County is endangering lives because state corrections officials have responded slowly and incompetently, according to a new lawsuit.
https://www.kentucky.com/news/coronavirus/article243542147.html
The state Department of Corrections is restricting movement of medium-security prisoners at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Eastern Washington after more than 100 officers and inmates tested positive for COVID-19.
https://komonews.com/news/local/over-100-covid-19-cases-reported-at-eastern-wash-prison
TGov. Kate Brown on June 12, told the Oregon Department of Corrections director to review inmates for possible release to limit the spread of coronavirus in the state prison system.
As today, according to the New York Times, there are 2,439 cases of Covid-19 connected to a prison in Marion, Ohio. Another facility, Pickaway Correctional Institution, is center of a cluster of 1,791 cases. Fer people contracted coronavirus in Cyprus (975 cases), Jamaica (611 cases), or Rwanda (494 cases).
https://qz.com/1868445/there-are-more-covid-19-cases-in-some-us-prisons-than-in-entire-countries/
As coronavirus cases among Alabama prison correctional staff continue to increase, the Alabama Department of Corrections will not release data revealing how many prison staff are in self-quarantine or the number of people who have died in their custody since January.
Prisoners suspected to have contracted the coronavirus are dying in the country’s most notorious jail. Officials of the overcrowded New Bilibid Prison took more than a week to inform some inmates they had likely tested positive for Covid-19, a source says.
Families say they were completely left in the dark about their loved ones' conditions until circumstances were dire, which left them blindsided when their loved ones died.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/jun/14/left-in-dark-say-inmates-families/
Delhi[India] has three prisons, at least 23 inmates and 45 staffers have tested positive for Covid-19.
White inmates in Illinois are having their sentences shortened during the coronavirus pandemic at a higher rate than Black inmates. 3,400 people early from Illinois prisons between March 1 and June 4. Less than half (46%) of inmates released early were Black, even though Black inmates make up 54% of the state prison population. Meanwhile, 43% of inmates who were released early were white, even though whites make up about 32% of the prison population.
https://abc7chicago.com/illinois-released-white-inmates-at-higher-rates-in-pandemic-report/6257415/
One dangerously overcrowded prison in Alabama has nearly a quarter of all the state’s confirmed COVID-19 cases among inmates and staff.
According to some of the most recent data, black Americans are 2.4 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than their white counterparts, and 2.2 times as likely as Asian Americans and Latin Americans. Other studies have also suggested that black communities, followed by Latinx communities, are being hit the hardest by the pandemic.
The number of coronavirus cases in California’s San Quentin state prison has tripled within the last two weeks, prompting advocates, families and attorneys to demand urgent action to fast track the release of prisoners and curb the spread among correctional officers.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/18/san-quentin-covid-19-cases-california-prison
Officials have announced that all inmates will be tested for COVID-19 at state prisons in North Carolina. The announcement of this testing comes after a court order that all inmates be tested.
https://www.wbtv.com/2020/06/18/all-inmates-be-tested-covid-state-prisons-north-carolina/
Activists, prisoners and their families on Tuesday were demanding action to stop what they are calling a brewing public health crisis at San Quentin State Prison due to COVID-19. Activists said the coronavirus started rapidly spreading through the prison last week.
More than 35% of federal inmates who have tested for coronavirus were positive, according to data from The Bureau of Prisons.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tested-federal-inmates-positive-coronavirus/story?id=71275461
Prison cases have bedeviled Gov. Abbott’s Covid-19 recordkeepers. In a media briefing, the governor blamed a prior data release from correctional facilities for more than 20% of the surge.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inequities throughout our economic, political, and social systems. Perhaps nowhere is this injustice more pronounced than in our jails, prisons, and detention centres. As the number of inmates and detained persons infected with COVID-19 across Canada continues to rise, it is vital that we reconsider our society’s attitude towards incarceration as a tool for solving complex social problems.
https://ricochet.media/en/3188/with-covid-19-its-time-to-move-towards-prison-abolition
Data from the Vermont Department of Corrections shows that while black inmates were almost 9 percent of the total prisoners tested for Covid-19 in the state, they made up nearly 18 percent of the prisoners who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Black inmates were also 2.2 times more likely to test positive than white inmates.
As COVID-19 deaths rise in Brazil’s violent and overcrowded jails, activists have called for tens of thousands of prisoners to be released to stop the disease taking a heavy toll on inmates, most of whom are young black men.
States have responded to the threat of Covid-19 in jails and prisons with "gross negligence," according to the ACLU and the Prison Policy Initiative. As of June 22, more than 570 incarcerated people in the US and more than 50 corrections officers have died due to Covid-19, the report said. Jails and prisons have become hotspots for new cases. Despite the warnings, the systems failed the incarcerated, the report concluded.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/health/state-response-covid-jails-prisons-trnd/index.html
Inmates at Angola prison in Louisiana told ProPublica of widespread illness, dysfunctional care and deadly neglect as the coronavirus outbreak hit. As prisoners died, officials called their response to the virus a "success."
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-uss-largest-maximum-security-prison-covid-19-raged
California's Governor said that the state hopes to expedite the release of several thousand low-risk inmates at state prisons such as San Quentin that have seen outbreaks of the COVID-19 coronavirus in their populations.
In a women’s prison where federal authorities said the state failed to protect prisoners from sexual abuse,two prisoners had died from COVID-19 at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women near Clinton, while 114 inmates and 77 staff had been confirmed with the virus, according to the latest data from the Department of Corrections.
Governor Tom Wolf announced today that since March 1, the population of those in state correctional facilities has been reduced by 3,471 individuals, the largest multiple-month decrease ever experienced by the Department of Corrections and one that helped the department reduce the number of COVID-19 cases in facilities.
A judge has denied a request from the N.C. Department of Public Safety that would modify an order to allow the agency to keep from reporting certain information about COVID-19 in prisons. Wake County Superior Court Judge Vince Rozier, Jr. signed an order that found DPS had likely violated prisoners’ constitutional rights by failing to properly protect them from the virus.
More than three months into the coronavirus pandemic, California officials say they still have no plans to collect and publish basic data about COVID-19 testing and outbreaks in local jails.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article243724172.html
The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to spread inside the prisons in the United Arab Emirates amid claims that the authorities are covering up the extent of the outbreak and have refused to provide the true number of inmates infected with the virus.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200622-covid-19-continues-to-spread-in-uae-prisons/
Fears are mounting over the safety of prisoners in Egypt’s notorious Tora prison, as rights groups say parts of the complex have been cordoned off to quarantine those diagnosed with coronavirus. Families of prisoners said efforts to contain virus are purely cosmetic.
State health officials say 55 additional state inmates and nine more federal inmates have contracted COVID-19 at the Otero County Prison Facility, which has had four deaths related to the virus and nearly 650 cases. The New Mexico Corrections Department says 362 of its 497 inmates at Otero County prison have COVID-19 – or 73%.
https://www.abqjournal.com/1468275/covid-19-cases-jump-at-southern-nm-prison.html
The Mississippi DOC released the number of inmate and staff who tested positive for COVID-19. MDOC is reporting a total of 83 cases in inmates and employees. 51 inmates and 32 employees have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the numbers posted June 19.
https://www.wjtv.com/news/mdoc-reports-83-covid-19-cases-in-inmates-and-employees/
Over the past 30 days, California’s oldest prison has gone from having zero coronavirus cases to being on the fast track to becoming the most infected prison in the state system. All of the reported cases came after CDCR transfer nearly 200 inmates from the California Institution for Men — a prison in Chino with 850 active coronavirus cases — to San Quentin and Corcoran prisons. All of the reported cases came after CDCR transfer nearly 200 inmates from the California Institution for Men — a prison in Chino with 850 active coronavirus cases — to San Quentin and Corcoran prisons.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/22/covid-19-cases-are-skyrocketing-in-san-quentin/
More than 900 cases diagnosed in last two weeks. Attorneys say outbreak can be traced to transfer of people to prison. The number of coronavirus cases in California’s San Quentin state prison has crossed a thousand, with more than 900 cases being in the last two weeks alone.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/29/san-quentin-coronavirus-cases-covid-19
A Tri-Cities TV station reported Friday the protest was started to bring attention to what the inmates perceived as poor practices regarding COVID-19, according to two anonymous family members of inmates. The report said complaints revolved around the inmates not seeing proper use of personal protective equipment by food handlers and not receiving proper gear themselves.
The Washington State Penitentiary has confirmed four cases of the virus since the pandemic began. Two staff members and two prisoners have had the virus, according to the DOC website.
The Prison Covid newsletter has received additional reports from WSP: On June 26 we were told "in the last two days three people at wsp BAR units Adams unit fell out and are being tested for covid." Also, it seems guards are not following safety procedures. "on June 20, 2020 at 1:00 pm at wsp law library two CO's [guards] one of whom was checking-in the inmates were not wearing face coverings. The inmate law clerk asked if face coverings were now optional. The CO appeared agitated by this question and ordered the law clerk to return to his unit. We spent the session without a law clerk and we also understood the message: keep your mouth shut. it should be noted no staff were taking temperatures."
Advocates said the move was deeply inadequate given the scale of the Covid crisis, which has infected more than 4,000 people in state prisons, leading to 20 deaths. The state announced more than 1,000 new cases in the last two weeks, a surge that advocates and experts say was preventable and is a result of the state’s negligence.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/26/california-clemency-covid-19-governor-prisons
Sixty-nine inmates from three housing units have tested positive along with 15 staff members. Those who had symptoms included elevated temperature or loss of taste and smell.
The Georgia Department of Corrections publishes the number of offenders who test positive for COVID-19 daily, and the number of prisoners in Middle Georgia prisons who tested positive is currently at 202. The number of staff who have tested positive is at 69.
US prisons and jails need to move swiftly to release pre-trial, older and medically-vulnerable inmates or face a humanitarian crisis of vast proportions as coronavirus ravages custodial institutions across the country, the Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has warned.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/26/rashida-tlaib-prisons-coronavirus-covid-19
Federal officials recognized the danger of the spread of coronavirus in prisons early, but have dragged their feet releasing at-risk inmates.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opinion/coronavirus-prisons-compassionate-release.html
isconsin has received an F+ grade from the national American Civil Liberties Union and the Prison Policy Initiative for its handling of the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis in prisons, according to a report just released.
Alabama Department of Corrections announced late Thursday the staff member at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women died after a recent COVID-19 diagnosis.
At least 84 Texas state prisoners have died after contracting the coronavirus. As the death count rose, advocates unsuccessfully called on the governor and parole board for early release. James Allen Smith was only supposed to be at a Texas prison for a matter of months, sentenced to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program after he pled guilty to a DWI offense in January.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/07/texas-prison-coronavirus-deaths/
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday getting a handle on the out-of-control COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin state prison remains a ‘top priority for our admininstration’ and several remedies were being considered including the early parole of qualified inmates. As of six San Quentin inmates have died during the COVID-19 sicne Monday.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/07/06/san-quentin-dead-inmates-covid-19-newsom/
As with so many social brutalities, the pandemic has exacerbated this problem. Former prisoners reenter a world of soaring unemployment and shuttered social service offices. For those in Raoul’s position, even the first step toward getting life on track — getting an ID — is thwarted.
https://theintercept.com/2020/07/05/coronavirus-parole-prison/
As COVID-19 infections spread rapidly through California’s prisons, authorities on July 6 announced the replacement of the state correction system’s top medical officer, and Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized an earlier decision to transfer hundreds of inmates from a Chino facility that had been battling an outbreak.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-06/coronavirus-prisons-inmates-outbreak
Covid-19 has raged throughout U.S. jails and prisons, where people live together in close quarters and there is little opportunity for social distancing, a lack of basic sanitary supplies and high rates of chronic disease. While inmates mostly stay behind concrete walls and barbed wire, those barriers can't contain an infectious disease like Covid-19. Not only can the virus be brought into jails and prisons, but it also can leave those facilities and spread widely into surrounding communities and beyond.
Experts Gov. J.B. Pritzker is relying on to help him manage the COVID-19 pandemic in the state sent the governor's staff emails in March that recommended coronavirus testing in prisons should be an area of focus, but a new survey released by a prison watchdog group found 89 percent of workers said they had not been tested prior to May.
Randy Rumler, a two-decade veteran of the Michigan Department of Corrections, has died after a battle with COVID-19. Inmates and loved ones connected to the Harrison facility have expressed concerns that the department introduced COVID-19 to the facility by using it as a "step-down" unit for people who had earlier tested positive for the virus but didn't currently have it, and weren't yet ready to return to their home facility.
More than 3,100 inmates at the Snake River Correctional Institution outside Ontario are under quarantine because of an outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility.
https://www.opb.org/news/article/eastern-oregon-prison-inmates-quarantined-covid-19/
At the end of June, the total number of coronavirus cases among prisoners had reached at least 52,649, an increase of 8% from the week before, according to data compiled by the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization focusing on criminal justice, and The Associated Press. At the end of June, the total number of coronavirus cases among prisoners had reached at least 52,649, an increase of 8% from the week before.
https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/new-outbreaks-push-us-inmate-coronavirus-cases-past-50000
The number of Florida prisoners who have tested positive for COVID-19 surpassed 2,000 on Tuesday, according to the state Department of Corrections.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/florida/2020/06/30/florida-inmate-covid-19-cases-surpass-2000/
COVID-19 has raged throughout U.S. jails and prisons, where people live together in close quarters and there is little opportunity for social distancing, a lack of basic sanitary supplies and high rates of chronic disease. While inmates mostly stay behind concrete walls and barbed wire, those barriers can’t contain an infectious disease like COVID-19. Not only can the virus be brought into jails and prisons, but it also can leave those facilities and spread widely into surrounding communities and beyond.
Nine of the nation’s 10 largest outbreak hotspots are jails and prisons. Because of deep-seated racial inequities in the justice system, failure to curb the virus’ spread through corrections facilities will lead to countless and needless deaths, disproportionately of people of color — once again demonstrating the lack of value placed on their lives. The incarceration rate of Black individuals is over five times that of white individuals, and about three in five individuals in prison are Black or Latinx — nearly double their share of the country’s population. We cannot allow over-incarceration to become a de facto death sentence for the millions — disproportionately people of color — behind bars.
Beverly Richmond’s son spent up to 36 hours at a time locked in a 6-by-9-foot cell with another prisoner and no toilet. She said he peed in water bottles and defecated in a coffee can. As of JUly 10, the prison had reported 229 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in prisoners and two prisoner deaths from the disease. At the same time, 54 staff members have tested positive with no deaths.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jul/12/at-coyote-ridge-amid-229-covid-19-cases-inmates-sa/
The Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights on Friday afternoon warned of increasing numbers of coronavirus cases inside the country's prisons and called for immediate measures to curb the spread of the highly-contagious disease in such facilities. "The commission's monitoring teams in Baghdad and other provinces have reported coronavirus infections among inmates and prison employees," the body said in a statement.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/8025688d-f5c2-4a50-b702-e6e46cbd9eaa
Prisoners are 5.5 times more likely to get Covid-19 and three times more likely to die from it, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins and UCLA published today in JAMA, putting numbers to disparate evidence of the virality of the disease in prison settings. With the findings, the researchers conclude systemic change is needed: “COVID-19 in US prisons is unlikely to be contained without implementation of more effective infection control.”
A North Texas federal prison has emerged as the prison with the largest number of coronavirus cases in the nation. According to federal records updated daily, 37% of inmates at the Federal Correctional Institute in Seagoville have contracted the virus as of Friday afternoon. Families with loved ones at the penitentiary east of Dallas plan to protest near the prison on Saturday.
North Carolina prisons are out of compliance with a court order, a judge said Friday afternoon. A month ago, Wake County Superior Court Judge Vinston Rozier Jr. ruled that conditions in state prisons were likely unconstitutional in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In that June hearing, Rozier ordered the state to take several actions. The N.C. Department of Public Safety, which oversees prisons, needed to create a plan to test all people in state prison custody for COVID-19, limit transfers between prisons, account for disparities between prison responses to COVID-19 and to expand the criteria that would allow people to be released from prison sooner. In the order, Rozier wrote that the “state has failed to comply with the Court’s directions in several meaningful ways,” and that the court “is extremely concerned by the apparent indifference with which Defendants have treated the Court’s Orders.”
Workers at a federal prison in South Florida are warning about a potential coronavirus outbreak that they say could spread beyond the prison's walls. “Our inmates are testing positive and we might have to flood the local hospitals. We have numerous inmates all over in Dade county hospitals," said Kareen Troitino, President of Union Local 3690, which represents the correctional officers at the federal prison in Southwest Miami-Dade. "Yesterday alone we discovered in one area that held 60 inmates over 22 tested positive and that’s only after testing 28," he said. "We don’t know where this is going to lead but it looks catastrophic at the moment."
COVID-19 cases in US federal and state prisons were 5.5 times higher—and death rates three times higher—than in the general population according to research published yesterday in JAMA. A total of 42,107 of 1,295,285 prisoners had been infected with the novel coronavirus, for a case rate of 3.25%, versus 0.59% in the general US population. In the US population, there had been 1,920,904 coronavirus cases and 95,608 deaths.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/07/us-prison-inmates-among-those-hit-hard-covid-19
Three more inmates have died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Meanwhile, county jails and federal prisons continue to battle outbreaks of the virus. To date, nine TDCJ employees have died after contracting the virus.
The storied prison is dealing with the third-largest coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Researchers fear that other institutions are at risk. Researchers in the Bay Area say it didn’t have to be this way. For the past four months, they have been offering prison officials free tests for the coronavirus, guidelines for protecting prisons from the pandemic and increasingly frantic warnings that trouble was coming.
A new analysis led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the number of U.S. prison residents who tested positive for COVID-19 was 5.5 times higher than the general U.S. population, with a prisoner case rate of 3,251 per 100,000 residents as compared to 587 cases per 100,000 in the general population.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200708121423.htm
The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 at San Quentin State Prison has skyrocketed to more than 1,400, including six deaths so far. As a staff physician who provides medical care to incarcerated patients, I am devastated by the news, but sadly, I’m not surprised. On a daily basis, our medical teams work diligently within the constraints of the prison system to limit transmission, and our patients do what they can to protect themselves in their environment, but the undeniable fact is that the state prisons are well over capacity — despite court-mandated reductions over the past several years. The only way to prevent catastrophic loss of life both inside and outside the prison system is to significantly reduce the prison population.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-07-08/coronavirus-prisons-california-release
Authorities announced on Monday that 45 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 this past weekend at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh. A total of 227 offenders within a housing unit were tested, and testing for the entire facility will soon be conducted, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety said.
COVID-19 has more than doubled during the past month, prompting state officials to launch emergency plans at two prisons where there are significant staffing shortages. The emergency plans, a copy of which was read to The News Service of Florida, said workers at Dade Correctional Institution and Jefferson Correctional Institution will need to work 12-hour shifts up to six days a week to ensure “adequate staffing levels” are maintained at the prisons.
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/07/14/florida-prisons-grapple-with-covid-19-hitting-workers/
The state estimates that around 15% of its lab-confirmed cases are asymptomatic. IDOC is reporting that about 94% of its cases are showing no symptoms. IDOC has so far tested 1,581 inmates. Of those, 798 were negative and 682 were positive. Of the positive cases, 641 of them were asymptomatic, which is about 94%. However, since the Idaho Department of Correction began mass testing at its prisons south of Boise, asymptomatic numbers are much higher than CDC projections.
The Bureau of Prisons released data showing that 70 percent of all those tested in their facilities for COVID-19 have come back positive. Medical professionals warned us that it was the staff, who were interacting with the outside world, bringing COVID-19 into facilities.
At one prison, more than 750 inmates were actively infected with the coronavirus on July 13. Two Texas prisons each have more than 670 inmates with active coronavirus infections, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the highest counts seen at any state lockup since the pandemic began.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/14/texas-prisons-coronavirus-infections/
We wanted to know what percentage of inmates have had access to COVID-19 testing. Among Kentucky’s state prisons, 2,632 COVID-19 tests have been given among roughly 11,200 inmates. If you assume one test was given to one inmate, it represents about 23% of the prison population tested for coronavirus. But since many inmates, like Erica, were re-tested to confirm if they could be removed from isolation, the percentage of inmates actually tested for COVID-19 is likely much lower.
Two more San Quentin inmates have died of suspected complications from COVID-19, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. As of July 13th, 1,925 prisoners at the prison had contracted the virus and 10 had died. Of those who tested positive, 410 patients have recovered, according to the state.
https://www.marinij.com/2020/07/13/coronavirus-two-san-quentin-inmates-die-in-hospital/
New numbers released from the Oregon Department of Corrections show a spike in cases of COVID-19 at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario. The disease is currently infecting at least 120 people in custody and 21 staff. The prison houses more than 2,700 inmates, who are being quarantined to slow the spread. [Editor's Note: there are 36 staff and 141 prisoner virus positive at OSP, this is out of only 621 people tested.]
https://www.opb.org/news/article/spike-covid-19-eastern-oregon-prison-snake-river-correctional/
The coronavirus locked the Lehigh County Jail from both directions, with inmates quarantined mostly inside their cells, and outside visitors banned since early March from entering the Allentown facility. The long-awaited installation of a video visitation system at the jail late last month should help. For 25 cents a minute, prisoners can now use a tablet computer to chat with loved ones.
The COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin State Prison continued to escalate July 12 with more than 1,600 active cases among inmates and staff. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation COVID-19 tracker, the number of active cases among inmates had increased to 1,485 the 12th. Another 27 inmates had been released from the facility while infected, 372 inmates once infected had recovered and seven inmates have died.
As with so many social brutalities, the pandemic has exacerbated this problem. Former prisoners reenter a world of soaring unemployment and shuttered social service offices. For those in Raoul’s position, even the first step toward getting life on track — getting an ID — is thwarted.
https://theintercept.com/2020/07/05/coronavirus-parole-prison/
Fox13Now.com said the protests were held simultaneously in St. George and Ogden outside county prosecutor offices Friday night. “There are ankle bracelets, things like that where they can be monitored. We don’t think that a jail sentence equals a death sentence,” said Malik Dayo of Black Lives Matter.
California officials will soon release another 2,100 inmates from state prisons in response to the coronavirus pandemic and in all now plans to release a total of more than 10,000 inmates, or nearly 10 percent of prisoners, as Gov. Gavin Newsom responds to intensifying pressure from advocates, lawmakers and federal judges.
Fort Worth women’s prison faces coronavirus outbreak; 12th inmate dies at men’s prison
More than 500 women at Fort Worth’s federal medical prison have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Bureau of Prisons. On Sunday, the Bureau of Prisons reported 200 women had tested positive for COVID-19 at FMC Carswell. On Monday, that number jumped to 509, giving Carswell the second highest number of cases out of all the country’s federal prisons. Only FCI Seagoville, which is also in Dallas-Fort Worth, had more infected inmates, with 1,132 cases as of Monday. “We’re like a whole bunch of hamsters in a cage chasing our own tails,” Holli Chapman, an inmate at Carswell, said.
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/coronavirus/article244366237.html
Florida’s prison system recorded 235 new coronavirus cases and two inmate deaths over the weekend, according to figures released July 20 by the state Department of Corrections. An additional 167 inmates and 68 corrections workers have been diagnosed with COVID-19. In total, the state has logged 3,687 inmate cases and 1,077 employee cases. Thirty-four inmates have died of complications related to COVID-19.
Six Victorian prisons have been placed in lockdown after an officer working at a men’s jail in Melbourne tested positive for Covid-19, prompting calls from legal groups to release low-risk prisoners during the pandemic. The officer only worked at the Ravenhall facility, officers and prisoners he came into contact with may have moved to different facilities.
Several Egyptian prisons and police stations have had suspected Covid-19 outbreaks in recent weeks amid a strict official information blackout, Human Rights Watch said. Accounts by witnesses to Human Rights Watch, leaked letters from two prisons, as well as credible reports by local rights groups and media indicate that at least 14 prisoners and detainees have died.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/20/egypt-apparent-covid-19-outbreaks-prisons#
More than two thirds of nearly 100 Nevada offenders being housed in a privately-run Arizona facility have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC). Of the 99 inmates at Saguaro Correctional Facility in Eloy, Ariz. who were tested, 69 were positive for the coronavirus.
The state tested all 626 inmates at the Pender Correctional Institution in response to a Wake County judge’s ruling that conditions in state prisons during the pandemic were likely unconstitutional, and a subsequent ruling that the state had failed to comply with the initial order to test all inmates.
This was going to happen, one way or another. Prisons, like cruise ships and nursing homes, are virus breeding grounds and human death traps. The only way to decrease the risk is to decrease the inmate population, and the state has made only the most modest effort.
Kansas topped 20,000 coronavirus cases this month, fueled by a dramatic increase in positive test results. The Kansas Department of Corrections said it is taking precautions against what seems to be an inevitable increase behind bars, keeping restrictions on family visits and continuing to encourage handwashing and mask wearing among inmates and staff.
https://hayspost.com/posts/2580eb2f-64ad-4f50-abf3-fdd4ef3f1b0f
Six additional staff members at Century Correctional Institution have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 in the past week for a total of 12. One new correctional worker case was reported Saturday, ahttp://www.northescambia.com/2020/07/five-more-correctional-workers-positive-for-covid-19-at-century-prisonlong with four Friday and one a few days prior. One week ago, there were just six.
A COVID-19 outbreak at the Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County is sparking outrage and concern. Dozens of inmates and staff members have tested positive, and one inmate has died.
https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/watchdog/2020/07/17/skyrocketing-covid-19-cases-at-coleman-prison
Of the 1,798 inmates at the Federal Correctional Institute at Seagoville, at least 1,072 have contracted the virus. Ten staff members have also tested positive and four have recovered, according to the Federal Bureau of Prison's official count.
The Virginia Department of Corrections announced Sunday that a 12th inmate has died of COVID-19 in state correctional facilities. As of July 16, VADOC said 1,541 offenders and 94 staff members have contracted the coronavirus.
The Kansas Department of Corrections has had a staff member die from COVID-19 complications. The Kansas DOC says a staff member at the Topeka Correctional Facility died on, July 25, due to complications from COVID-19 and this is the third staff death related to the virus, as the first two were at the Lansing Correctional Facility.
https://www.wibw.com/2020/07/28/kdoc-staff-member-dies-from-covid-19-complications/
Seventeen Alaska inmates in jails and prisons around the state have tested positive for COVID-19, most of them since the state began testing everyone entering the correctional system this month. But Alaska officials say so far the new cases here are separate and aren’t coming in clusters or outbreaks like those reported in Lower 48 facilities, even though the state’s daily infection count is soaring.
Israel’s Supreme Court rejected yesterday a petition by Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, demanding Israeli authorities to implement COVID-19 protective guidelines for prisoners at Gilboa prison, where 30 prison guards and seven Palestinian prisoners are infected, while 489 guards and 58 prisoners are in quarantine. The court ruled that Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have no right to social distancing protection against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of Florida prison inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19 surpassed 5,000 on Friday, and the inmate death toll increased by one, according to data released by the state Department of Corrections. The count of positive cases among inmates went from 4,886 on Thursday to 5,158 on Friday [July 25]. The number of corrections workers who have tested positive for the virus also ticked up, from 1,237 cases on Thursday to 1,318 on Friday.
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/07/25/florida-inmate-covid-19-cases-top-5000/
[And now for the other side of the issue, Fox News' Sean Kennedy in the Wall Street Journal.]
While hundreds of millions of law-abiding Americans were on lockdown this spring, progressives were demanding that criminals be allowed to go free. So far, almost 100,000 inmates have been released from prisons and jails around the country—with more to come. It can be no coincidence that crime is on the rise in states where these mass releases took place.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/youre-more-likely-to-catch-covid-at-home-than-in-jail-11595628804
Thousands of parole-approved prisoners remain locked up during the public health crisis. The coronavirus has delayed pre-release programs and kept people set to go home inside infected prisons. Many have been waiting six months or longer for release. During that time, Texas has seen more state prisoners die with the virus than any other state prison system in America.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/23/texas-prisons-coronavirus-parole/
Prison officials in the Lompoc, California, compound failed to isolate and test at least one symptomatic prisoner and allowed staffers to show up for work despite having symptoms, contributing to a surge in coronavirus cases in one of the hardest-hit facilities in the federal prison system. found that officials there failed to ease prison population through home confinement, despite an order by the Attorney General to expedite the release of vulnerable prisoners at heavily affected facilities. Only eight prisoners have been moved to home confinement at the time of the investigation in April and May, according to the report. The Lompoc compound has 2,700 prisoners. The inspector general's office found that two symptomatic staff members came to work despite having COVID-19 symptoms.
Amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, a federal judge has now ordered the state to set aside space for isolation and quarantine in its prisons. The order is the latest result of a long string of court motions filed by prison reform advocates in recent months that have criticized the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Under the ruling, signed by U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Judge Jon Tigar on Wednesday, the state must come up with a plan to vacate at least 100 beds in each prison across California in the next month.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article244421452.html
At least 208 workers and 83 inmates in the Wayne county sheriff’s office jail system have been infected. Amid overcrowding and a shortage of PPE, at least 208 employees and at least 83 inmates have tested positive for Covid-19 at WCSO to date. Public health experts have for months warned that US jails and prisons face catastrophe. At least 100,000 people in US jails and prisons have been infected, and almost 800 inmates and staff have died, according to the New York Times.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/22/covid-19-detroit-jails-deaths
Prison inmates who sued the state, claiming their confinement leaves them particularly vulnerable to coronavirus infection have settled after dropping a key demand – a substantial inmate release to reduce the prison population.
Under terms of the settlement between the state and the American Civil Liberties Union, the state agreed to the establishment of a five-member, independent panel that will monitor and report publicly on the state Department of Correction’s COVID-19 response between now and the end of the year.
The correction department also agrees under the settlement to put in place a variety of mitigation measures to improve virus-related sanitation, hygiene and medical monitoring at all state correctional institutions – measures the department said it had implemented prior to the settlement.
Correctional Officer IV Jackson Pongay, 56, who was diagnosed with the new coronavirus, died Sunday at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston where he’d been hospitalized since July 5, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said. "The loss of someone selflessly serving Texas is hard to fathom," said TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier.
Sixty-six inmates from the coronavirus-ridden California Institution for Men were on buses in late May, headed from Chino to the prison at Corcoran where Frank Estrada was incarcerated. What they didn’t know was that “the ‘beast’ came with them,” Estrada said, alluding to the lethal virus that hitched a ride on one of the most disastrous prisoner transfers in state history. Corcoran State Prison was coronavirus-free before the buses arrived. It now has 10 active cases of COVID-19 and one reported inmate death. San Quentin, California’s oldest prison, took in 121 transfers from Chino and has since been ravaged by the disease. Last week, it passed the 2,000 mark in infections, and now reports 862 active cases and 13 deaths among its 3,362 inmates.
Some of the disturbance was streamed on social media. The cellphone video from inside the prison has gone viral. “Those videos were shot by inmates on contraband cellphones they brought in,” said John Eason, a former Georgia Department of Corrections officer who worked at the Ware State Prison for 10 years. shows 22 inmates and 32 staff members at Ware State Prison have tested positive for the coronavirus.
As COVID-19 spreads throughout the state’s prison system, Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Mark Inch and one of his top lieutenants have tested positive for the virus, the state agency announced late Friday night.
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/08/01/coronavirus-hits-florida-state-prisons-chief-top-aide/
We are interfaith clergy seeking to return the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons and jails to the frontlines of action. We join the Alliance of Families in demanding that Governor Cuomo release incarcerated people who fall into the CDC-defined categories of those who are vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. The pandemic has not gone away and incarcerated people remain at great risk of contracting and dying from the virus.
A Yakima County Department of Corrections officer has died of COVID-19, the department said. Officer Dan Oaks, a 15-year veteran of the department, died Saturday after being hospitalized with the disease, corrections department Director Ed Campbell said. The jail was the scene of an outbreak that, at its peak, saw 34 officers and 130 inmates infected. Jail officials said Thursday that seven inmates and 12 corrections officers were infected.
Unable to social distance and without aid, prisoners are at the virus’s mercy
As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread, it’s become clear certain populations are particularly at risk — including those serving sentences in prisons and jails. The virus has torn through correctional and detention centers across the U.S., with more than 78,000 incarcerated people testing positive for COVID-19 as of July 28.
https://massivesci.com/articles/prison-system-covid-19-coronavirus/
A coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 1,200 inmates at two prisons in Marion County. More than 50 staff members have tested positive, as well. Lowell Correctional Institution, Florida’s largest women’s prison, has lost two inmates with the virus. And one woman from the nearby Florida Women’s Reception Center has died of COVID-19. Now a group of former inmates that previously protested outside Lowell has donated a truckload of soap, bleach, hand sanitizer, gloves, toilet paper and five televisions.
The number of state prison inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19 continued to soar Tuesday, with the total reaching 6,946, according to numbers released by the Florida Department of Corrections. The total was an increase from 6,217 inmates who had tested positive.
Ulster County on Thursday reported a second consecutive daily spike of COVID-19 cases, and it again attributed the jump to the state prisons in the county. Assistant Deputy County Executive Daniel Torres said Thursday that 28 of the 37 new positive results were among the inmate populations at the Wallkill and Shawangunk correctional facilities in southern Ulster County.
Alejandro Cantu explained broke his leg playing basketball on the yard and was taken to an outside hospital. Cantu, 34, had first tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, about a month earlier. Before undergoing surgery, he was tested again. The results came back five days ago, he said: still positive. After the surgery, Cantu was brought back to Chuckawalla on Monday, he said. Despite his diagnosis, the prison staff placed him in a pod that houses 11 other men, none of them infected, Cantu said.
Four of the 10 largest ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks in Colorado are in correctional facilities, and cases among people experiencing homelessness in Denver also ranked near the top. Two of the largest outbreaks are in state prisons, and the downtown Denver detention center and Jefferson County jail also reported significant numbers of cases.
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/07/29/colorado-covid-outbreaks-prisons-jails/
Arkansas is sixth in the country for COVID-19 related cases among inmates in state prisons, and the state is eighth for most inmate deaths, according to data from the Marshall Project. ACLU called this alarming. “…Arkansas state officials’ shameful failure to address the deadly public health crisis raging through our prisons. Lives are at stake and Governor Hutchinson and the DOC must take stronger action – now – to protect the vulnerable people in their custody from contracting this disease.”
Up to 700 inmates in Kentucky could receive an early release in the coming week, as COVID-19 cases rise in state prisons. They are in the final stages of screening the inmates to see if they qualify for early release, according to the governor's news conference.
Prison COVID-19 Information Project - First Published April 11, 2020
206-271-5003 or contact@prisoncovid.com