Fighting COVID-19 in Prisons
September 27, 2020
New Jersey, which has the nation’s highest coronavirus-related death rate among prisoners, is considering legislation to free thousands of nonviolent inmates to tamp down infections, and New York lawmakers have been told during public hearings that “decarceration” is key to slowing COVID-19 in prisons. Making this case in the latest Issues, a team of doctors and researchers documented the disproportionate presence of COVID-19 infections and deaths in US prisons and jails, especially among disadvantaged populations, and highlighted the need—still often ignored—to speed decarceration.