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We need to talk about how Covid-19 has been disproportionately impacting and destroying the lives of prisoners. A thread...
The U.S. currently incarcerates more of its population than any other country in the world. In fact, the U.S. has less than 5% of the world’s population, yet has over 25% of the world’s prison population.
The U.S. also has had over 11.5 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, and I’m sure you know that is more than any other country in the world. What you may not know is that over 180,000 of those cases have been among prisoners. There have also been over 1,400 deaths.
In fact, upon further inspection with the Marshall Projects State-by-State look at Coronavirus in prisons, we see that prisoners are at significantly higher rates of contracting and dying from Covid-19. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/05/01/a-state-by-state-look-at-coronavirus-in-prisons
In Texas, there have been at least 25,000 cases confirmed (2,109 per 10,000 prisoners, which is 528% higher than Texas overall!!!), and 166 deaths (14 per 10,000 prisoners, which is 111% higher than Texas overall!!!).
In Florida, there have been almost 17,000 cases confirmed (2,006 per 10,000 prisoners, which is 412% higher than Florida overall!!!), and 184 deaths (22 per 10,000 prisoners, which is 168% higher than Florida overall!!!).
And in Illinois (my home state), there have been over 3,000 cases confirmed (963 per 10,000 prisoners, which is 139% higher than Illinois overall), and almost 4,500 tests administered per 10,000, which is 34% LOWER than Illinois overall.
And cases are skyrocketing in prions at the moment. “Iowa, Michigan and the federal prison system each saw more than 1,000 prisoners test positive this week, while Texas prisons surpassed 2,000 new cases.”
It’s indisputable that our prison system, with millions and millions of prisoners living in close quarters, are at disproportionately and unjustly higher rates of contracting and dying from Covid-19 than the general population. But it doesn’t stop there.
“Black people have been disproportionately affected by mass incarceration and COVID-19. Nearly one-third of Black men will face imprisonment during their lifetime, and Black communities have a markedly higher burden of COVID-19 cases and mortality than White populations.”
Our prison system is KILLING our citizens, and because of the racial injustice that has plagued our criminal justice system from the very beginning, the system is murdering black citizens at significantly higher rates.
As Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro recently said in response to this injustice, “Going to prison should not be a death sentence.” Yet it is, and we seem to be okay with it.
So what’s the solution? An NPR interview with a lead researcher on Covid-19 in Texas Prisons offered this:
“The experts have all recommended reducing the populations. You need to get the most vulnerable people out of harm's way. Prisons are some of the most densely populated facilities that we have, and we need to be able to give people more space...
So our report looks at people who are parole eligible — 58% of the people who died in prison were parole eligible. Nine people died after they were approved for parole, but while they were still waiting to be released. We could be looking at speeding up those releases.”
Once again our prisoners have been ignored by society, left to suffer disproportionately from a virus that they have no ability to escape from. This tragic loss of life cannot be ignored, change MUST happen, and it must happen NOW.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/11/15/935112305/covid-19-devastates-texas-prison-populations
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(20)30231-0/fulltext
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/07/yes-u-s-locks-people-up-at-a-higher-rate-than-any-other-country/%3foutputType=amp
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/11/15/935112305/covid-19-devastates-texas-prison-populations
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(20)30231-0/fulltext
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/07/yes-u-s-locks-people-up-at-a-higher-rate-than-any-other-country/%3foutputType=amp
