‘Jails In This Country Are Petri Dishes’: Infections And Unrest Both Spread Fast In Crowded Prisons

CNN: Prisons And Coronavirus: US Jails And Prisons Are Turning Into ‘Petri Dishes.’ Deputies Are Falling Ill, Too
In the United States, the largest known concentration of coronavirus cases outside of hospitals isn’t on a cruise ship or in a nursing home. It’s at a jail in Chicago. At least 276 detainees and 172 staff members — mostly correctional deputies — at Cook County Jail have tested positive for coronavirus, the county sheriff’s office said Wednesday. One detainee who tested positive for the virus has died, and at least 21 detainees are hospitalized. Across the country, prisons and jails have become hotbeds for coronavirus. Close confinement is likely fueling the spread. (Yan, 4/10)

USA Today: Coronavirus Rips Through Prisons, Striking Inmates And Workers
As the coronavirus storm was making landfall in the USA, prison and jail officials across the country anxiously braced for the onslaught. Thousands of potentially vulnerable inmates were set free or sent to home confinement to reduce the risk of large-scale outbreaks. Visitation was halted, and isolation wards were designated for those who would be exposed. Detention authorities are deep into managing hundreds of infected and quarantined inmates, whose numbers have been changing by the day. (Johnson, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Prisoners Riot As Coronavirus Tensions Rise
Coronavirus-fueled tensions inside the nation’s prisons and jails are boiling over into riots, standoffs and hunger strikes. Officers at a Washington state penitentiary fired nonlethal rounds and used pepper spray to break up a demonstration of more than 100 inmates Wednesday night after six inmates tested positive there, prison officials said. (Elinson and Gurman, 4/9)

Tacoma News Tribune: State Considering Release Of Nonviolent Offenders To Free Up Prison Space, Inslee Says
A day after a COVID-19 outbreak triggered an inmate disturbance at the Monroe Correctional Complex, Gov. Jay Inslee said the state is considering releasing nonviolent offenders early to free up space so inmates at risk of infection can be isolated. “I think public safety calls for that and we’re looking for reasonable things to do for some nonviolent offenders,” he said Thursday, saying details are expected within a few days. The prison system has begun to look at the number of nonviolent drug offenders who are within 60 days of their release, said Stephen Sinclair, Secretary of the Department of Corrections. (Drew and Krell, 4/10)

CBS News: Judge Rejects Release Of Vulnerable Cook County Jail Inmates, Orders Coronavirus Testing
A federal judge on Thursday denied a request to release medically vulnerable inmates at Chicago’s Cook County jail but ordered officials to step up coronavirus testing for detainees and improve sanitation protocols. The facility is experiencing one of the largest outbreaks from a single location in the country. (Kendall, 4/10)

The New York Times: Jailed On A Minor Parole Violation, He Caught The Coronavirus And Died
Last summer, Raymond Rivera was arrested on a minor parole violation and sent to Rikers Island, where he waited months for a final decision on his release. As his case dragged on, the coronavirus spread through the jail complex and he became sick. On Friday, state parole officials finally lifted the warrant against Mr. Rivera as he lay in a bed at the Bellevue Hospital Center. He died the next day. “It was a tragedy the way it happened,” said Mr. Rivera’s wife, who asked not to be named to protect her privacy. “Why did he have to wait so long?” (Ransom, 4/9)

The Washington Post: Inside The Deadliest Federal Prison, The Seeping Coronavirus Creates Fear And Danger
As the coronavirus pandemic seeps into the 122-facility federal prison system, the Oakdale prison has become the deadliest. In the last three weeks, eight inmates in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons system have died of covid-19; five of them were imprisoned at Oakdale. More than 100 Oakdale inmates are under quarantine, and four staff members have tested positive for the disease. The virus is festering at Oakdale as older inmates and prisoners with serious medical conditions live among the general population. Prisoners, fearing they may be abandoned in an isolation cell and left for dead, are not reporting their symptoms. Prison staff walk the grounds, often without masks and gloves, failing to observe social distancing with either inmates or themselves. (Kindy, 4/9)

ABC News: Locked Up To Locked Out: Recently Released Prisoners Face Unprecedented Challenges Amid Coronavirus Crisis 
By the time Ronald Reynolds took his first steps of freedom in 29 years out of the front gates of Louisiana’s State Penitentiary, the coronavirus had already begun its quiet, deadly spread through America’s communities that would upend the lives of millions in a span of weeks. It was Jan. 29, and Reynolds had plans in store. After being convicted of second-degree murder in 1993 and sentenced to life without parole, Reynolds spent his days in the Angola prison using his certification in American Sign Language to assist deaf inmates and working as a hospice volunteer. (Mallin and Barr, 4/10)

WBUR: Coronavirus Cases More Than Double Overnight At Essex County Jail 
The number of coronavirus cases at the Essex County jail more than doubled overnight, after advocates and inmates complained the sheriff hasn’t done enough to stop the spread of virus. (Willmsen, 4/9)

The Marshall Project: I Was A Prison Hospice Aide. Then Came Coronavirus.
Death is a word not often uttered among prisoners. When a person goes to prison, there are two days that mean the most: the day you get in and the day you get out. No one wants to get out by dying. I know all of this not just because I’m a prisoner myself and want to see the free sky one day. I know it also because my job in here is to work in the hospice section of our prison, helping incarcerated men die. And so I know firsthand how the looming threat of COVID-19 is being absorbed by all of us behind the walls. (Gant, 4/10)