While COVID is being watched precariously in most states throughout the country, the American prison system has been neglected from safety precautions and measurements. COVID has ravaged throughout prisons across the country at exorbitant rates. During the week of Nov. 17, The Marshall Project, a non-profit for criminal justice, reported that there were 13,657 new cases in the federal and state prisons. There has been little social distancing or mask wearing in the prison facilities which are often overcrowded and overpopulated.To make matters worse, the prison system has a high percentage of inmates with pre-existing conditions, making them more susceptible to severe COVID symptoms. The numbers don’t lie, as of mid-November almost 200,000 cases of COVID have been reported in state and federal prisons. Cases among prisoners are reported 4 times as high as those of the American general population, and the death rate more than twice as high. Prison staff have also been widely affected by the spiking rates in prisons, with their infection rates being 3 times as high as the public as well. On top of this, prison facilities are often outdated and overcrowded, kinds of conditions that help COVID spread easily. Just north, across the SF Bay, San Quentin is one of the many prisons across the country that has had high rates of outbreak. In mid-July, the prison had active cases exceeding 1600. The conditions of San Quentin were called into question, with overcrowding, outdated facilities, and few medical personnel, tents had to be set up to house the sick. The lack of attention brought to contain the outbreak caused backlash and the case was eventually sent to court in October, where it was ruled that the prison had to reduce its population to half capacity. While this may have addressed one prison’s handling of COVID, other prisons have yet to change their inefficient and often inhumane methods of handling the outbreaks.
In my opinion, it is absolutely unacceptable to have such little regulation throughout the prison system. Inmates are subject to major safety concerns which could be handled in an appropriate way. The disregard given to prisoners' health is shocking to me, as they are still human beings and should be treated with respect. The outbreaks of COVID have also shed light on the conditions in our prison system which I believe are in need of change and improvement. It is especially shocking that prisons so close to us, like San Quentin, still have horrific conditions, even while being in a state that is so focused on providing quality healthcare.
What is your reaction to the COVID situation in prisons?
How do you think the outbreaks in prisons should be handled? (ie. population cutdowns, new safety regulations, updating facilities)
I agree with you in that it is very unfortunate that prisons are not taking proper safety measures in ensuring their inmates' safety. I definitely think mask wearing should be required and sanitation routines increased. It may be that the prisons do not have the funds to put these measures in place. I am not sure how the inmates feel about this and how worried they are, but it would be sad if they wanted to protect themselves and the prison did not support their requests. I don't think population cutdowns are reasonable but the prison should definitely update their facilities and find eligible staff who can take care of the sick. It's also unfortunate that the prison staff who catch the virus in the prison take it and transmit it outside, but the prisons obviously can't eliminate staff, therefore their only option to keep the prisons sanitary and hopefully bring down the number of cases is through mask wearing, sanitation, gloves, etc.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your ideas about new measures. I think there needs to be more use of masks and other sanitation guidelines that have been used to contain COVID in the general public. However, I do think that population cutdowns can be a helpful response to COVID considering the fact that many prisons are overcrowded. When they are overcrowded, and there is little social distancing or mask use, COVID will definitely have a quicker rate of spread than compared to a less populated prison.
DeleteIt's sad how prisoners are treated even if they have participated in crimes. COVID-19 is practically no ones fault so we shouldn't be paying attention to any group of people less than another when it comes to safety. However, prisons were never known to be the cleanest and safest places on the planet, I am not very surprised with how COVID-19 has impacted prisons. I hope prisons try to enforce sanitation, the wearing of masks, social distancing, and more to prevent the spread. I also hope they can carry the hygiene and cleanliness after the pandemic ends too for the safety of everyone.
ReplyDeleteIt's really the sad reality that prisons aren't very sanitary and have almost no health precautions, and it will most likely stay that way. I feel that precautions should be taken in prisons around the country, however I'm thinking that most inmates won't want to conform to these cautions, of wearing masks and such. Along with that I think most prisons don't have the money needed to enforce and carry out with these actions as they are already underfunded. Hopefully, some changes will be made going further in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think that it truly is devastating to see how harmful COVID-19 has been in the prison system, where few efforts have been made to ensure the safety of the people in prison currently. During a time like this, and from the beginning when knowledge of the virus became known, there should have been efforts made to ensure that COVID-19 would remain outside of prisons (I know that realistically it is near impossible to do since asymptomatic individuals can spread it but having stricter rules early on would have helped), there should have been safety regulations implemented such as lowering the number of inmates in overcrowded prisons and enforcing that everyone wears masks, and supplying additional PPE. I think that population cut-downs in prison are one of the most effective ways to mitigate the spread of the virus but that is difficult to do effectively, so protective equipment needs to be provided, distancing needs to occur, and testing should be done.
ReplyDeleteIt’s disheartening that prisons don’t have adequate safety measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. It’s not shocking that even in a pandemic, prisoners’ wellbeing is still the last item on the government’s agenda. I agree with Megan that mask wearing and social distancing should be enforced. Population cuts may be hard if other prisons are just as full. It’s unfair for the little medical staff available to be overworked and expected to handle an overpopulated, underfunded, and unsanitary environment. Like Ian said, hopefully there will be more attention directed towards the unsafe conditions in prisons, and changes will be made to improve them.
ReplyDeleteI think that the prison system definitely should have been considered more carefully when determining the public response to the pandemic. Neglecting to ensure safety and proper health protocols for prisoners has led to really bad outbreaks within prisons that could have easily been avoided with some planning. In addition, the overcrowded nature of many modern prisons has only helped COVID spread more easily there. We as a society likely need to reconsider whether we need to build more prisons or we need to let more prisoners out (those who committed minor offenses). This is especially true since it will be many months (maybe even years, you never know) before COVID is brought under control, and even then it will probably keep spreading to some extent. Places like prisons will continue to be breeding grounds for the virus until this issue is looked at more closely by politicians.
ReplyDeleteIt is shocking to see that prisoners are not protected properly during the pandemic. Prisons are not taking proper precautions to ensure the health and safety of the prisoners, despite the rapid rate of Covid spreading throughout the country. Prisons should handle the outbreaks by enforcing stricter regulations which includes mask-wearing, social distancing, and following sanitation guidelines. Social distancing and quarinting for prisoners might be more difficult as there is not a lot of extra space in prisons, however cutting down the population of prisoners could potentially solve this problem. One way to cut down prison population would be to parole prisoners who have been convicted of non-violent crimes. Prisons should take these steps sooner rather than later, else the spread of COVID-19 will continue to rise at a rapid rate which could be detrimental for prisoners, especially those with pre-existing medical conditions.
ReplyDeleteYour idea about how to solve overcrowding is very interesting. I think that putting prisoners on parole could be effective in this situation, however it might be hard to do given the current state of our country. Depending on the crime they committed and how much time they have served, parole just may not be appropriate. Also, given the already large amount of criticism being thrown at the prison system, I fear this may be seen as unfair, as they cannot parole all prisoners who committed non-violent crimes.
DeleteI think that this situation is quite sad because there is not much that we can do at the moment. I believe that prisons should enforce mask-wearing, social distancing, sanitizing, and regular COVID tests. Although these are all things that we are all very used to at this point, I think that the overcrowded prison systems would make these regulations difficult to follow, ultimately leading to the high number of COVID cases in the prison. I think that prisons should do the best that they can to control COVID right now before it is too late and more people die.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the responses above, I agree that it is devastating to see this inaction regarding safety precautions in prisons during the pandemic. No matter the circumstance, preserving one’s life and ensuring safety to all should be our priority and these conditions demonstrate otherwise. Given the large population of inmates in prison, I think safety measures such as wearing masks, regulating the size of groupings, and sanitizing is imperative in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Overall, this pandemic has shed light to the many pre existing problems within the justice system and further action should be taken to make improvements.
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, it's extremely disheartening to think that human lives are being disregarded and ignored as they are in prisons. It's the government's duty to place equal value to every human's life, it's what America is known for, freedom and equality. They deserve basic steps taken to decrease their chances of dying from this pandemic, just as we take care of old people in homes and kids in schools. We must bring light to this issue and focus on making change in prisons, both in and out of a pandemic.
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