We Will Lose the Fight Against Coronavirus if our Prison Population is Ignored

The United States holds 5% of the world’s population, yet a whopping 25% of the world’s prison population. It has more people behind bars than any other nation, a total of nearly 2.3 million as of 2017. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, this includes nearly 1.5 million in state and federal prisons and another 745,000 in local jails.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, and the pandemic that has followed, it should be a given that inmates be of major concern; there are so many of them and, consequently, they are at a higher risk of exposure. However, it is not America’s style to care for its most vulnerable people, especially if they are already considered the bottom caste.

On a regular basis, those imprisoned live in unsanitary facilities, undergo abuse of every kind, and suffer from mental health issues with little to no help at all to cope with such problems. These everyday hardships, coupled with a vicious virus that has yet to be contained, creates a dangerous environment that is unprecedented even for prisons. Even the most basic forms of precaution— gloves, masks, hand washing —are a luxury because inmates don’t have access to gloves, masks, or hot water to properly wash their hands.

Sean Hernandez, an inmate at New York’s Rikers Island, revealed to the New York Times that he covers his mouth and nose with a t-shirt or towel when he leaves his cell. That is the only defense he can improvise against the coronavirus outbreak sweeping through the jail. “We are pleading with officers for better defenses” he said. “They just shrug. In the end, we are just inmates, second-class citizens. We are like livestock.”

Across the United States, jails and prisons are reporting an accelerating spread of the new disease. As of 04/28/2020, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reports that there are 1,314 federal inmates and 335 BOP staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 nationwide. Udi Ofer, director of the justice division at the American Civil Liberties Union, commented to the New York Times that “Every day that government officials do not act is another day that lives are put at risk.”

It should be said though that prisons are taking varied approaches to protecting their inmates. One approach is releasing inmates up for parole or with minor offenses. However, the overall effectiveness of the approach (or the attempt, rather, at rectifying the mistake of prolonged inaction) is just as important as the approach itself, and there is a downside to this step of protection. This downside, and its disastrous ripple effects, makes it difficult to disagree with Ofer’s claim that lives are currently being put at risk.

An inmate that was released from Rikers Island reported to the New York Times that when a prisoner and a guard in his area of the jail contracted the coronavirus, he couldn’t even distance himself because he still had to line up with the other inmates to be treated for his drug addiction. There is no adequate protection for anyone, let alone for those with preexisting conditions. This is the kind of atmosphere that only breeds more cases and more disaster.

In response, The New York City Department of Correction said it has taken measures to address the outbreak by distributing masks to inmates in areas where someone is infected, promoting distancing between inmates, cleaning cells and providing soap. Clean cells and soap should’ve already been the standard (since, like all other humans, inmates need and deserve cleanliness), but that aside, all these measures should have been taken months ago.

Now it is too late. The damage has already been done.

Thousands of inmates (in states such as New York and California) are being released, in some cases with little or no medical screening to determine if they’ve contracted the coronavirus and are at risk of spreading it into the community, and therein lies the problem.

People in prison being subjected to inhumane conditions is not new. Outrage against such cruelty is not new either. What is new, is the urgency for change. With the coronavirus spreading like wildfire and making it clear that it does not discriminate by gender, race or class (it in fact affects all), it is as good a time as any to give those imprisoned the basic human rights they already deserve (clean and hot water, suitable sanitary products such as soap etc.). Yet the United States still lagged. This has only resulted in a higher risk of exposure for all.

All America had to do was show some human decency for once to those who need it most, and they couldn’t even do that. Now everyone, even outside of prison, might suffer.