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ICYMI: 3 research reports came out in the chaos of last month — from @PrisonPolicy, @DetentionWatch, @uwchr — on the relationship bw incarceration/detention & #PublicHealth during #COVID19! I read all 3 & will break down my understanding of key takeaways here 
THREAD 
(1/x)
THREAD (1/x)
(2/x) @PrisonPolicy research put data to how porous jails, prisons, & ICE detention are. Staff enter/exit daily; ppl get newly incarcerated & transferred regularly. It's a recipe for COVID disaster inside carceral facilities AND in surrounding communities. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/covidspread.html
(3/x) Specifically @PrisonPolicy found "COVID19 caseloads grew more quickly over summer 2020 in nonmetro counties w more ppl incarce'd"
Basically:
incarceration, COVID
Cant technically say incarceration CAUSED this bc it wasnt an experiment, but we CAN show theyre LINKED.
Basically:
incarceration, COVIDCant technically say incarceration CAUSED this bc it wasnt an experiment, but we CAN show theyre LINKED.
(4/x) @PrisonPolicy also found: "COVID19 caseloads grew much more quickly over summer 2020 among counties in multicounty economic areas w more ppl incarcerated"
Carceral facilities tend to be built in rural areas, but places are linked, esp by commuters. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/covidspread.html
Carceral facilities tend to be built in rural areas, but places are linked, esp by commuters. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/covidspread.html
(5/x) This shows how incarceration relates to bigger cities' & regions' COVID caseloads. AND it's not all-or-nothing: as incarceration goes up (relative to total # of residents), so too do the community COVID impacts. (Nerds: it's a dose-response curve) https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/covidspread.html
(6/x) Finally, this straightforward but devastating finding: "Mass incarceration added to COVID19 caseloads in multicounty economic areas & states. Nationally this impact reached a tragic scale: Mass incarceration added MORE THAN A HALF MILLION CASES in just 3 months."
(7/x) NEXT: the @DetentionWatch report analyzed ICE detention specifically, w devastating results: "Based on the findings of this report, ICE’s failure to release ppl from detention during the pandemic added OVER 245,000 CASES to the total US caseload" 
https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/sites/default/files/reports/DWN_Hotbeds%20of%20Infection_2020_FOR%20WEB.pdf
https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/sites/default/files/reports/DWN_Hotbeds%20of%20Infection_2020_FOR%20WEB.pdf
(8/x) @DetentionWatch made a strong public health case to #FreeThemAll from detention, connecting COVID to concerns that began long before the pandemic & highlighting resistance inside: "From Mar to Jul 2020 nearly 2500 detained ppl joined COVID-related hunger strikes nationwide"
(9/x) Overall, the @DetentionWatch report takeaways are very similar to the @PrisonPolicy findings described in above. For example, "as the size of ICE detention in the multicounty economic area increased, so did the incidence of COVID." Basically: ICE detention, COVID
above. For example, "as the size of ICE detention in the multicounty economic area increased, so did the incidence of COVID." Basically: ICE detention, COVID
(10/x) ICE & corporate detention cronies often prey on struggling jurisdictions. THIS should give counties serious pause. The report found counties w ICE detention:
had initial COVID cases earlier
were more likely to have a serious/major outbreak & a health care emergency
had initial COVID cases earlier were more likely to have a serious/major outbreak & a health care emergency
(11/x) To give perspective, the report compares COVID infections in ICE detention to other countries overall (rather than as a % of US cases). Imagine being in a country so wildly inept that you have to do this 
ICE's caseload would rank #16 in the WORLD, nearly tying Italy!
ICE's caseload would rank #16 in the WORLD, nearly tying Italy!
(12/x) Similarly "the rate of infection among ppl detained by ICE was MORE THAN 13 TIMES higher than that of the general population. If a nation reported an infection rate of this magnitude to WHO, it'd have the highest rate of infection in the world — & by a wide margin." AWFUL.
(13/x) The report describes how pandemic mismanagement overall & ICE detention specifically fed each other to create the off-the-chart caseloads & infection rates discussed. Federal, state, & local goverments could've prioritized #HealthNotPunishment but failed spectacularly.
(14/x) @DetentionWatch makes policy recs to #FreeThemAll4PublicHealth, including that ICE must:
reduce detention population
halt enforcement activities
#StopICEtransfers within ICE detention & from jails/prisons
prohibit deportations
https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/sites/default/files/reports/DWN_Hotbeds%20of%20Infection_2020_FOR%20WEB.pdf
reduce detention population halt enforcement activities #StopICEtransfers within ICE detention & from jails/prisons prohibit deportationshttps://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/sites/default/files/reports/DWN_Hotbeds%20of%20Infection_2020_FOR%20WEB.pdf
(15/x) LASTLY: @uwchr goes into painstaking detail on 1 carceral facility: Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, WA. If you don't know HOW the findings of the @PrisonPolicy & @DetentionWatch reports could possibly be true, this is illustrative. https://jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/2020/12/16/nwdc-covid/
(16/x) What we know: conditions inside are terrible — spoiled food, inadequate sanitation, medical neglect, solitary confinement — but we only know the half of it. Why? ICE & GEO Group suppress info & evade oversight, even from agencies & authorities LITERALLY empowered to do so.
(17/x) Good to zoom out: "ICE’s & CDC’s [guidelines] are based on... a dangerously problematic assumption... suggests that once detained, people have a less robust right to health than members of the general population." 
This contradicts UN standards & basic human decency.
This contradicts UN standards & basic human decency.
(18/x) They outline how oversight/regulation have failed. Important caveat: "monitoring processes have multiplied over the years, yet @uwchr has seen no evidence they've produced improved conditions for individuals incarcerated at NWDC" (Psst: this is why we demand #FreeThemAll!)
(19/x) Yet @uwchr finds that state/local actors — incl Gov @JayInslee & Tacoma-Pierce Co Dept of Health ( @TPCHD) — choose not to protect #PublicHealth inside NWDC. "ICE grants more authority to local health departments like TPCHD than TPCHD seems to want." CALLED 
OUT
OUT
(20/x) They expose the hypocrisy of @TPCHD's mission ("protect & improve the health of all ppl & places in Pierce County") & self-declared priorities (“equitable opportunities to health” incl thru controlling communicable diseases). This dynamic is sadly all too familiar.
(21/x) Health depts across the US are shirking responsibility over their incarcerated populations AND ignoring how carceral outbreaks have regional impacts, as this shows. #PublicHealth are life-saving heroes doing the best they can AND failing miserably: both are true.
shows. #PublicHealth are life-saving heroes doing the best they can AND failing miserably: both are true.
(22/x) We need to bolster #PublicHealth infrastructure. AND PH leaders should be honest. Denying they have oversight authority? Claiming ICE is following guidelines? C'mon. It's insulting — & undermines public trust bc either you're lying or you're ignorant/naive. Neither's good.
(23/x) YES 
to the last line: "we should ask ourselves what further info we truly need, & what decisions we are prepared to make on the basis of that info once obtained, to ensure that further research does not substitute for action." Something I see FAR too often.
to the last line: "we should ask ourselves what further info we truly need, & what decisions we are prepared to make on the basis of that info once obtained, to ensure that further research does not substitute for action." Something I see FAR too often.
(24/x) Importantly, all reports lead to: the most effective & NECESSARY solution is to #FreeThemAll from jails, prisons, & ICE. If we intend to beat this pandemic, gov't leaders need to get serious about #HealthNotPunishment. Our fates are bound up with incarcerated people's.
(25/x) Got questions? Ask! Wanna get involved with #FreeThemAll campaigns? Reply with your location — I can try to point you toward folks I know/respect. Wanna support #FreeThemAll organizing materially? Donate to @C_Resistance, @DetentionWatch, @AsianPrisonerSC, @survivepunish
