At San Quentin, Overcrowding Laid The Groundwork For An Explosive COVID-19 Outbreak All but nine of California’s 35 prisons house more people than the facility was designed to hold. Juan Moreno Haines, Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new report finds that too many kids, particularly Black youth, continue to be held in dangerous juvenile detention facilities; California prison officials refused offers of free testing before and during San Quentin outbreak; and Gov. Gavin Newsom announces plans to release 8,000 incarcerated people. Kelly Davis
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons A new multimedia campaign seeks to amplify voices of people incarcerated in Maryland’s Prince George’s County Jail, a GEO Group stockholder sues the for-profit prison company over its ’woefully ineffective’ COVID-19 response, and widespread testing is turning up thousands of new infections. Kelly Davis
After More Than 25 Years Behind Bars, He’s At High Risk For Coronavirus. Now He’s Going Home John Wesley Parratt Jr. was scheduled to appear before the parole board in July. After the novel coronavirus arrived in San Quentin State Prison, he feared for his health. Juan Moreno Haines
In Overcrowded San Quentin, Coronavirus Shelter-In-Place Measures Mean Decreased Quality of Life With programming paused and prison jobs reduced, people inside will not be able to earn good-time credits and are cut off from a means of supporting themselves. Juan Moreno Haines
How Coronavirus is Changing Life Inside San Quentin State Prison “They are treating it like any epidemic in prison—that is to isolate, treat and then release back to the population.” Juan Moreno Haines
History Teaches Us That When Viruses Come to Prisons, Punishment Is Not the Answer The H1N1 pandemic, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and other outbreaks have taught us that blanket policies of solitary confinement and isolation have led to harmful outcomes. Joshua Manson
First Two Coronavirus Cases Confirmed at California Prisons The state Department of Corrections confirmed two staff cases of COVID-19. No prisoners have been confirmed to have the virus, the department said. Kira Lerner
In San Quentin Prison, Getting The Flu Can Land You In Solitary Confinement Prisoners avoid admitting they are sick because they don’t want to be put in solitary, so nurses go cell to cell to take their temperatures. Juan Moreno Haines
