More than 2,000 inmates at Ohio's Marion Correctional Institution — 80% of the population — have the coronavirus. The ACLU says for conditions to be safe in the state's overcrowded prisons, up to half of those held would need to be released. (WOSUnews)
Marion alone boasts 2,011 of those cases, and another 157 cases among staff. Two Marion inmates and one corrections officer have died.
"Now there are other states that are considering doing it at this point, but we’re definitely the first one to do it," she says."So that’s why the numbers jump out at you."One of many reasons the coronavirus has been difficult to contain in Ohio’s prisons is because they are overcrowded at about 130% capacity. Other states have turned to releasing inmates to help social distancing behind bars. Pennsylvania recommended release of 1,800 prisoners.
"You need to get your prison facility, or at least each of those individual facilities, down to the point where they could single bunk or single cell," says Gary Daniels of the Ohio ACLU."What that number would be in Ohio, I’m not sure, but you might very well be talking about decarcerating our prison population by half."
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