Jail conditions in the U.S. are a national crisis – many jails are unsafe, overcrowded, and lack basic medical healthcare. Hundreds of people die while in jail every year. And the majority of people in American jails – on any given day, around 540,000 people – are being detained before trial. Here, we follow jail conditions across the country.
This interactive tool tracks developments of the coronavirus response in local and state governments, with a focus on what is being done — and what’s not done — to protect vulnerable populations....
The pandemic could create a humanitarian crisis in jails if officials don’t act quickly. We're calling for a mass released of people detained pretrial in order to avoid an unprecedented health catastrophe....
“The risk of spreading infection is especially severe in light of the Spokane County Jail’s chronic overcrowding. This threatens everyone incarcerated in a jail, along with their loved ones, jail staff and the state’s public health infrastructure at large.”...
"To help advocates, journalists, and policy makers see what positive action could look like, we are curating examples of actions taken to slow the spread of the disease in prisons, in jails, and among people on probation or parole."...
"The Bail Project stressed that more inmates should be released on their own recognizance so the county’s jail facilities don’t become hot spots for coronavirus transmission. Lockdowns would be ineffective because of rapid turnover in the jail population."...
