The Marshall Project continues to track cases of COVID-19 and it's impact across US prisons. They note that a recent change by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to remove cases and deaths from its reports has reduced their ability to accurately track new cases or deaths in federal prisons. Read more: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/05/01/a-state-by-state-look-at-coronavirus-in-prisons [...]
The New York Times reports that dozens of individuals in prison have died who were approved for parole or not convicted. The deaths raise troubling questions about the way the country’s justice system responded to a pandemic that infected incarcerated people at more than three times the national rate. Defense attorneys, judges and some prosecutors have [...]
The Detroit Free Press notes that convicted cadaver dealer Arthur Rathburn is pleading for compassionate release from prison citing fears of contracting the coronavirus — though the government calls it an act. Prosecutors noted in a court filing that Mr. Rathburn has refused to take a COVID-19 vaccine and does not follow social distancing [...]
People For the American Way reports that Sixth Circuit judge Amul Thapar, appointed by President Trump, cast the deciding vote to affirm the dismissal of a prisoner’s complaint that prison officials disregarded orders from Governor Whitmer and were deliberately indifferent to the extreme risk of contracting COVID-19 due to prison conditions. The article details [...]
The Detroit Free Press reports that Michigan's Attorney General has taken action against at least 50 prisoners to reimburse cost of care, as allowed under Michigan law. Many of these actions appear to be triggered by prisoners receiving federal government stimulus checks. One prisoner, Phil Brown, noted, "The amount of money that they're going [...]
Vaccines have slowly made their way into the prison system but not until more than a third of the people in jails and prisons became infected. In some cases, these facilities were the worst superspreaders — with infections spreading between prisoners and staff. Read more: https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2021/the-astonishing-toll-of-covid-19-in-jails-and-prisons/
Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont and Michigan had the highest testing rates among the 32 states studied for COVID-19 testing among inmate populations, according to a study released by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice. Read more: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/04/01/michigan-prisons-covid-19-testing-inmate-deaths/4834926001/
WILX reports that many Michigan corrections officers are not getting vaccinated. Some of this may be because so many prisoners and prison staff have already been infected that many do not see a need to get vaccinated. Read more: https://www.wilx.com/2021/03/29/corrections-officers-not-getting-vaccinated-as-prison-case-numbers-rising/
The New York Times reports that COVID-19 infections are nearly triple among US prisoners than the rest of the US population. Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/10/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases
America's prisons, jails and detention centers have been among the nation's most dangerous places when it comes to COVID-19. Over the last year, an average of 1,400 new infections and seven deaths were reported every day from these facilities. Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/10/us/covid-prison-outbreak.html
