Covid remains a threat for the roughly 30,000 people in the country’s network of immigration facilities. But ICE continues to flout its own pandemic protocols, an extension of the facilities’ poor history of medical care.
Category: Prison Health Care
Policies to Roll Back Abortion Rights Will Hit Incarcerated People Particularly Hard
People in jails and prisons are particularly vulnerable to the fallout from the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Overdose Deaths Behind Bars Rise as Drug Crisis Swells
Drug-related mortality rates have increased in prisons and jails even as the number of people incarcerated for drug offenses has dropped. The pandemic lockdowns on visitors didn’t eliminate the problem, showcasing that guards have been a source of the contraband.
Long Waits for Montana State Hospital Leave Psychiatric Patients in Jail
A backlog at Montana’s psychiatric hospital for those facing criminal charges has left people with serious mental illness behind bars for months without adequate treatment. In some cases, judges have freed defendants over due-process violations.
Covid Aid to Protect Montana Prisons and Jails Sits Unused
Montana has yet to start spending nearly $2.5 million in federal aid to boost covid detection and mitigation in the state’s prison and jails.
Inmates Who Died Asked for Release Before Falling Ill With Covid
Covid is running rampant through the Alderson women’s prison in West Virginia, in one of the deadliest outbreaks this year at a federal correctional facility. This comes as Bureau of Prisons officials take heat for how the agency has handled the pandemic.
Solitary Confinement Condemns Many Prisoners to Long-Term Health Issues
An estimated 300,000 people were held in solitary confinement in U.S. jails and prisons at the height of the pandemic. An international movement is pushing to limit the form of incarceration due to its damaging physical and psychological effects.
States Pull Back on Covid Data Even Amid Delta Surge
As covid case numbers rise nationwide, Georgia and some other states have restricted the case count data they share publicly.
Most Inmates Have Had Their Covid Shots — But Their Guards Likely Haven’t
Hesitancy about the vaccines among prison staffers has led to a striking disparity: Inmates are better protected than corrections officials.
Some County Jail Inmates See Vaccination as Ticket to a Better Life — In the State Pen
In the Los Angeles County Jail system, many inmates hope being vaccinated will get them transferred more quickly to state prison. Some just want to protect themselves against covid, while others are distrustful and refuse vaccination.
