The massive number of inmates jammed into America's hell-hole prisons and jails has resulted in millions of unnecessary COVID-19 infections—and tens of thousands of deaths—spreading from jails to the surrounding communities, and far beyond. That's the conclusion of a new study carried out by researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Toulouse School of Economics and the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
The U.S. has long had the world's highest incarceration rate, seven times the number in any other industrialized country. With less than five percent of the world's population, this country imprisons almost 25 percent of the world's prisoners. At the same time this country has seen more reported COVID-19 cases—and more deaths—than any other country. The authors of this new study—published September 2nd in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open—believe their findings show that this country's mass incarceration and its massive number of Coronavirus infections and deaths are related.1
Overcrowded jails—“epidemic machines” spreading infections and death
Of the 2.1 million people held behind bars in this country, about 650,000 are held in city and county jails. 25 percent are serving sentences of less than a year, and 75 percent are in jail awaiting trial—"punishment" for not being able to afford bail. Because most of those in jail custody are only there for short periods of time, the U.S. jail population has a 55 percent weekly turnover rate, according to the study. Add to that the 220,000 full-time staff, who go back and forth from their homes every day and, as Dr. Eric Reinhart of Northwestern University describes it: "This jail churn effectively produces epidemic machines that seed outbreaks both in and beyond jails, undermining public safety for the entire country."
The study analyzed data from 1,605 counties, well over half the U.S. population. They used data measuring the changes in public health in those few counties which did—in most cases temporarily—reduce jail populations from 20 percent to 50 percent in the early months of the pandemic. They were able to calculate that an 80 percent reduction in the U.S. prison population could have cut the growth rate of the virus substantially. Dr. Reinhart said in a news release, “Even just a 2 percent reduction in daily case growth rates in the U.S. from the beginning of the pandemic until now would translate to the prevention of millions of cases." He has also pointed out that tens of thousands of deaths could have been prevented.
Reinhart believes the majority of these people should never have been taken to jail in the first place. But he adds, “...no one—regardless of whether they have in fact committed a crime—should be subjected to the high risk of coronavirus infection imposed by the poor conditions in these facilities.”
Black and other oppressed communities hit hardest
Black and other oppressed communities have been the targets for criminalization and mass incarceration for decades. Today Black people make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, but 40 percent of those in prison and jail—not because they're criminals, but because they've been criminalized. Now, since the start of the pandemic, they have faced much higher rates of COVID-19 infection and death. The authors of this study believe this link between prisons and public health “likely accounts for a substantial proportion of the racial disparities we have seen in COVID-19 cases across the U.S." This is an outrage that should shock the conscience of people everywhere.