COVID-19 is Spreading Faster Than Ever. Jail Populations are Surging, Too In many of America’s major cities, the early efforts to reduce incarceration during the pandemic have been reversed. Jerry Iannelli
Researchers Estimate Mass Incarceration Contributed To More Than Half A Million Additional Cases Of COVID-19 Over The Summer The report found that spread inside correctional facilities contributed to community spread, particularly in California, Florida and Texas. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Ethan Corey
Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman
Lawmakers Push For The Federal Government To Treat Racism As A Public Health Crisis Members of Congress have introduced a bill that would create a National Center on Anti-Racism in Health. Kira Lerner
San Quentin Prisoners Go On Hunger Strike Amid Massive COVID-19 Outbreak About 20 people in the prison’s Badger section have been on hunger strike for the past few days, three people incarcerated there say. Kira Lerner
In the Middle of a Pandemic, Prisoners at San Quentin Are Punished for Being Sick Prisoners are reluctant to report when they’re feeling sick, because they know they’ll be sent to solitary confinement. Juan Moreno Haines
Governors’ Coronavirus Decisions Put People of Color In Harm’s Way As the country reopens, we can’t quickly forget these failures of government, which have disproportionately harmed Black, Latinx, and Native people. David A. Love
Honolulu Police Keep Putting Homeless People in Jail The city is flouting CDC guidance by continuing to dismantle homeless encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic, though it does not have nearly enough shelter space. Meg O'Connor
The Other Infectious Disease Ravaging America’s Jails And Prisons Hepatitis C has ripped through prisons and jails, despite more effective treatments for the disease. It is a comorbidity to COVID-19, and the pandemic threatens to cut already weak state funding for prisons to treat those with the disease. Samuel Weiss
Jails and Prisons Must Reduce Their Populations Now We did it in San Francisco. If we are smart about how we respond to COVID-19 in the criminal legal system, then we can simultaneously tackle two crises. Cristine Soto DeBerry
Bureau of Prisons Is ‘Shifting Deck Chairs on the Titanic’ With Quarantine Plan, Critics Say Criminal justice reform advocates question why the BOP plans to move people around rather than reduce prison populations. Kira Lerner
Why Is COVID-19 Hitting Black Communities Harder? Residential Segregation Is a Key Factor. Segregation not only increases individuals' exposure to the novel coronavirus, it also leaves them more susceptible to its effects and limits the quality of care they will receive, experts say. Akilah Wise
Coronavirus Is Ready To Explode Inside Fort Dix Federal Prison, Incarcerated People and Their Loved Ones Say One prisoner says a man collapsed while waiting for a temperature check and was sprayed down with disinfectant as he lay on the floor. BOP denied it. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Amazon Isn’t Doing Enough To Protect Its Workers From Coronavirus, Report Says Warehouse workers say time pressure leaves them unable to properly wash their hands, and have reported an increase in mandatory overtime, which creates crowded conditions. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Emptying Prisons to Prevent the Spread of Coronavirus Will Save Lives on the Outside, Too By letting people out now, we can avoid overwhelming our healthcare system with sick prisoners later. Oliver Hinds
The COVID-19 Prison Disaster Is No Longer Hypothetical People are dying in jails and prisons because elected officials hesitated at the worst possible moment. Jay Willis
Grocery Store Workers Are Risking Their Lives For Little Pay They make roughly half the average national income, and they’re at risk of COVID-19 exposure as they continue to work to ensure shelves are restocked and communities fed. Lizzie Tribone
Don’t Look to the DOJ to Keep Federal Prisons and Their Surrounding Communities Safe During the COVID-19 Pandemic Experts are urging large-scale releases. But the Department of Justice often operates contrary to expertise. Shon Hopwood
At the Center of the Coronavirus Pandemic, People Inside NYC Jails Describe Fear, Confusion and a Lack of Supplies 'They're not supplying us with masks, they’re not supplying us gloves, they're not supplying us with decent cleaning supplies.' Kim Kelly
Voting Rights Advocates Sound the Alarm About Disenfranchisement of Black Voters in Wisconsin’s Primary 'We literally held an election during a pandemic.' Kira Lerner
California Makes Major Bail Change To Slow the Spread of Coronavirus In Jails Bail will be set at $0 for most misdemeanors and low-level felony offenses. Kira Lerner
Despite Coronavirus Fears, ICE Fights to Keep a Sick Michigan Man It Can’t Deport Locked Up ICE has adopted no policies aimed at releasing any of the 38,000 people it keeps in county jails and private detention centers across the country. Chris Gelardi
The Voices Warning Trump About COVID-19 In Prisons Are Growing Louder. Will He Listen? There are no good reasons for the president to keep vulnerable people behind bars any longer. Jay Willis
Admissions to Illinois State Prisons Suspended, With Few Exceptions, Due to Coronavirus Prisoners are “especially vulnerable to contracting and spreading COVID-19,” Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker wrote in his executive order. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
As the Coronavirus Pandemic Worsens, Olympia’s Homeless Community Scrambles for Support The COVID-19 crisis is shining a light on America’s worsening housing crisis and limited resources for response. Mara Kardas-Nelson
Seattle Was Struggling To Care For Its Unhoused Population. Then Coronavirus Arrived. Advocates for the area’s homeless residents say the pandemic will worsen the crisis they have already been living through. Jay Willis
New York City Jails Have an Alarmingly High Infection Rate, According to an Analysis by the Legal Aid Society “Based on this analysis, New York City jails have become the epicenter of COVID-19,” a Legal Aid attorney said. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
An Update On What’s Happening Inside Rikers Island as Coronavirus Spreads “The doctors said they were going to come and do screenings every day, but for the past two days, they’ve just come into the dorm and stood by the front door and yelled, ‘Does anybody have any symptoms?’” Kim Kelly
What It’s Like to Be Inside Rikers Island As Coronavirus Spreads “Still no hand sanitizer, no bleach.” Kim Kelly
Coronavirus Has Come to Rikers, and the People Inside Are Fighting to Survive The island’s Communicable Disease Unit is already overflowing with quarantined people. Kim Kelly
To Prevent Coronavirus Spread, New Jersey Authorizes Major Jail Release Up to 1,000 people will have their sentences delayed or suspended. Kira Lerner
New York City Courts Still Dangerous For Spread of Coronavirus, Public Defenders Say While those facing charges appear by video at arraignments, all others—attorneys, officers, the judge—are in the courtroom in close quarters, defense attorneys say. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Prosecutors Across U.S. Call for Action to Mitigate Spread of Coronavirus in Jails and Prisons In a joint statement, they emphasized the need to reduce the number of people currently incarcerated in order to contain the deadly COVID-19 virus. Jessica Pishko
The Push to End ‘Punishment Fever’ Against People With HIV Advocates say laws that land people with HIV on the sex offender registry are outdated and dangerous. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
To End the Opioid Crisis, Skip the Handcuffs and Rethink Health Insurance, Report Says A new report from The Sentencing Project offers a blueprint for putting an end to a deadly epidemic. Rebecca McCray
