Health experts say prisons and jails are a potential epicenter for America’s coronavirus pandemic. They are little cities where many people share cells, sit elbow-to-elbow at dining areas and are herded through halls to the yard or jobs.
FILE - In this March 16, 2011, file photo, a security fence surrounds inmate housing on the Rikers Island correctional facility in New York. Health experts say prisons and jails are considered a potential epicenter for America’s coronavirus pandemic.
Health experts say prisons and jails are considered a potential epicenter for America’s coronavirus pandemic. They are little cities hidden behind tall fences where many people share cells, sit elbow-to-elbow at dining areas and are herded through halls to the yard or prison industry jobs. The first positive tests from inside America’s correctional facilities started trickling out two weeks ago, with more than 300 cases now confirmed in New York, California, Michigan, Alabama and a dozen other states.
“America’s 7,000 jails, prisons, juvenile and immigration detention centers are completely unequipped to handle this pandemic,” he said. With little information coming from within correctional facilities or from the outside world, those inside often try to figure out who’s been infected on their own. Sometimes they learn about it from jail staff members, who have weighed orders to remain silent with their own concerns about the health of inmates and staff, the men say.
So far, most of the confirmed cases in prisons and jails across America have been correctional officers, staff and civilian employees. Sometimes, incarcerated men known to have come into contact with infected people are sent to segregation or to their cells — whether they have a bunk mate or not. “As far as the quarantine goes, it’s a joke,” Prioleau said on a call with the nonprofit Forum For Understanding Prisons posted on Facebook Live. “They putting you in seg. They’re throwing you in the hole and quarantining you if you refuse to go over there.”
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