SPECIAL SECTION: The COVID-19 Crisis
Shining a Spotlight on Inadequate Response to COVID-19 in Prisons and Jails
Researchers and advocates who track healthcare in prisons forewarned that COVID-19 was going to bring disaster to incarcerated people, prison staff and surrounding communities. The well- documented inadequate response has proven them correct. Will anything change going forward? By David Raths
In this recurring section, Healthcare Innovation editors take an in-depth look into the numerous ways the COVID- 19 pandemic is impacting the healthcare ecosystem. In this issue, we specifi cally look at the impact of the virus spreading in prisons and jails, as well as how digital technology is helping employers get folks back to work safely.
prisons, the COVID Prison Project (CPP) was established to increase transparency about coronavirus in incarceration settings as well as to track national and state policies and procedures. Advocates point out that in jails and prisons, inmates have little freedom of movement, often lack access to adequate hygiene and healthcare facilities, and may be unable to isolate if infected. The CPP’s co-founder, Lauren Brinkley-
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Rubinstein, Ph.D., assistant professor of social medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill, researches how incarceration can impact health outcomes. She joined a recent panel discussion of how COVID-19 has spread through jails and prisons, how that is affecting not only inmates but also sur- rounding communities, what corrections officials are—and are not—doing to address COVID-19, and what should be done to improve health outcomes for and control the spread of COVID-19 among this population.
ith 148,938 COVID-19 cases and 1,228 COVID-related deaths among people incarcerated in U.S.
“We knew this was
going to hit hard in jails and prisons,” she said. “By the summer it was clear there had been major outbreaks. Nine of the largest outbreaks in the coun- try were in prisons and jails. We have seen some increases in testing, but it has never
“It’s like having a cruise ship in every county with people cycling in and out and lots of community spread. I am frustrated that this is an untold story happening all over the country.” -- Joseph Neff
been adequate. There has been some one-time testing in prisons to appease advocates, but we still haven’t seen any
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Bigstock long-term testing plans by a majority of places.” “Prisons started giving us more data
than they ever had before,” Brinkley- Rubinstein said. “We now have a pretty good understanding of incidents in 53 prison systems and 70 jails that are giving us the number of cases, deaths, and people tested. Our group is doing preliminary analysis of policies to make the link between correctional health and public health.” Only three states so far are providing any demographic data on COVID in prison, and she said her team of researchers knows much less about what is happening in jails, she noted. “Even the biggest jails aren’t giving us much data at all.”
‘Like having a cruise ship in every county’ Joining Brinkley-Rubinstein in speak- ing at the forum co-hosted by the Duke Initiative for Science & Society was Joseph Neff, a staff writer for The
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