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1. Jails and prisons are becoming the epicenter of the coronavirus in America. And it's hard to overstate the degree to which the corrections profession has failed.
2. The infection rate at NYC's Rikers Island jail is 8x higher than NYC itself. And NYC is the world-epicenter of the coronavirus. https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/coronavirus-covid19-rikers-island-jail-conditions-infections-freedom.html
3. In Philadelphia, the jail infection rate is twice as high as the infection rate of even the most infected Philly neighborhoods. https://www.philadefender.org/covid-philly-jails/
4. In Chicago, the infection rate at Cook County Jail is **30x** higher than the rest of the county.
5. In fact, data compiled by the New York Times found that Cook County Jail was "the nation’s largest-known source of coronavirus infections... with more confirmed cases than the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt [or] the nursing home in Kirkland, Washington." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/coronavirus-cook-county-jail-chicago.html
6. As of a day or two ago, *306* people incarcerated at Cook County Jail had tested positive for the virus as well as *218* staff. A total disaster – for guards as well as inmates. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/3rd-detainee-at-cook-county-jail-dies-after-contracting-coronavirus/2254741/
7. The same is true at the jail in Washington, DC. The infection rate at the DC Jail is *14x* higher than the rate in the city as a whole.
Not 14% higher. *14x* higher. https://twitter.com/AlisonPHorn/status/1249063506248445952?s=20
Not 14% higher. *14x* higher. https://twitter.com/AlisonPHorn/status/1249063506248445952?s=20
8. The infection rate at this Massachusetts state prison, MCI-Framingham, a women's facility, is a staggering 10%.
In other words, the prison's infection rate is *26x* higher than the state's infection rate.
Again, not 26% higher. 26 TIMES higher. https://twitter.com/CourtWatchMA/status/1249816884574289925?s=20
In other words, the prison's infection rate is *26x* higher than the state's infection rate.
Again, not 26% higher. 26 TIMES higher. https://twitter.com/CourtWatchMA/status/1249816884574289925?s=20
9. The COVID-19 infection rate at the Cummins Unit prison in the Arkansas DOC is *1800x the infection rate for the state of Arkansas as a whole.
Just think about that for a minute. Not 1800%. 1800 TIMES. https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/04/cummins-unit-prison-arkansas-coronavirus-spread/
Just think about that for a minute. Not 1800%. 1800 TIMES. https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/04/cummins-unit-prison-arkansas-coronavirus-spread/
10. An update from the unfolding tragedy at Bill de Blasio's Rikers Island jail, where the infection rate is 6x higher than the rate of NYC and 45x the rate of the United States. https://twitter.com/MollyGriffard/status/1250250732470763521?s=20
11. The infection rate at Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's prison – Parnall Correctional Facility – has an infection rate of 10% for prisoners and 21% for staff. cc: @GovWhitmer https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/04/16/infection-rate-michigan-prison-exceeds-new-york-chicago-jail-hotspots/2987935001/
12. To put it differently, the infection rate among inmates at @GovWhitmer's Parnall prison is about 82x the infection rate of the county as a whole. For staff, it's 170x the county as a whole. Whitmer is causing a mass disaster. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/04/16/infection-rate-michigan-prison-exceeds-new-york-chicago-jail-hotspots/2987935001/
13. The infection rate in the Harris County (Houston, TX) Jail run by Sheriff Ed Gonzalez @SheriffEd_HCSO is 7.5x higher than the infection rate of the county as a whole. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Coronavirus-rates-climbing-in-Harris-County-Jail-15199977.php#
14. In Sheriff Gonzalez @SheriffEd_HCSO's jail, the infection rate is ~3x *higher for staff than for the inmates. For the staff, the infection rate is ~22x the infection rate of the county. @SheriffEd_HCSO liquidating his own employees in order preserve mass incarceration.
15. In Ohio Governor @MikeDeWine's prisons, 273 incarcerated people have tested positive for the coronavirus. That means the infection rate in the prisons is 8x the infection rate of the state as a whole. https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200415/coronavirus-in-ohio-hundreds-of-inmates-to-be-freed-early-as-virus-sweeps-through-state-prisons
16. An update on DC: The infection rate of people incarcerated in the local jail is 13x the infection rate of the city as a whole. https://twitter.com/JusticePolicy/status/1251151520625643520?s=20
17. There are 132 incarcerated people infected at Ohio Governor @MikeDeWine's Pickaway County Correctional Institution out of a total population of ~1860. That's a whopping 7% or 105x the rate of the state as a whole. Not 105%. 105 *TIMES
At Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker's prison, MCI-Bridgewater, there are 50 infected people (residents + staff). Four people are already dead.
"You’re sitting there in a group, not socially distancing, and no one has protective gear." https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/16/metro/state-correctional-facility-bridgewater-emerges-hotspot-coronavirus-infection/
"You’re sitting there in a group, not socially distancing, and no one has protective gear." https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/16/metro/state-correctional-facility-bridgewater-emerges-hotspot-coronavirus-infection/
19. At Ohio Governor @MikeDewine's prison, Marion Correctional Institution, 71% of the incarcerated people are infected. *71%*. That's **720x*** the infection rate of Ohio as a whole. A disaster and utterly predictable. https://twitter.com/DrNovisky/status/1251967293090906119?s=20
20. Also note, as is true at so many of these facilities, at @MikeDeWine's Marion Correctional Institution, TONS of staff are infected as well, 109 to be precise. https://twitter.com/DrNovisky/status/1251967293090906119?s=20
21. The infection of massive number of corrections staff is not limited to Ohio. In @andrewcuomo's New York, 753 prison staff are infected, and yet he does almost nothing to alleviate the prison crowding. Imagine caring so little *even about the staff*. https://twitter.com/DataPrison/status/1252022539880140800?s=20
22. As Piper reminds us, these are not just numbers. These are real human beings who have people who care about them. https://twitter.com/Piper/status/1251628012807708673?s=20
23. An update on the disaster unfolding at the DC Jail where 89 incarcerated people have tested positive. https://twitter.com/AlisonPHorn/status/1252064763275862016?s=20
24. Keep in mind, the above are facilities where we know the situation because there is a modicum of data being made public. That is not true everywhere. In some places, like @GovTimWalz's Minnesota, they're hiding information about the catastrophe. https://twitter.com/ACLUMN/status/1252066868380217344?s=20
25. According to the New York Times, of the top clusters of cases – cases connected to a single source – four of the top six are prisons.
26. At Taconic Correctional Facility, a medium security women’s prison run by @NYGovCuomo, there 210 infected women and five fatalities. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/the-pandemic-inside-the-only-womens-maximum-security-prison-in-new-york
27. A state prison in Marion, Ohio, is now the United States' largest known source of COVID-19 infections. Chicago's Cook County jail had previously been the largest single source of cases in the U.S. https://www.axios.com/ohio-prison-coronavirus-f03420d7-838a-46fe-99e3-5d9573449a84.html
28. 1 in 5 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ohio can now be traced back to the state's prison system. https://www.axios.com/ohio-prison-coronavirus-f03420d7-838a-46fe-99e3-5d9573449a84.html
29. At the Beto Unit – a prison run by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in Palestine, Texas – 106 inmates, or 3% of the population, are infected with COVID-19. The rate of infection at Beto is 500x that of the county as a whole. https://www.kltv.com/2020/04/16/tdcs-beto-unit-palestine-now-has-confirmed-covid-cases/
30. Another Florida prison becomes a COVID-19 hot spot.
"Inmates with COVID-19 at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach soared.... As of Saturday evening, 85 inmates and 78 staff members had tested positive... 4 inmates had died." https://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/florida-prisons/article242117931.html
"Inmates with COVID-19 at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach soared.... As of Saturday evening, 85 inmates and 78 staff members had tested positive... 4 inmates had died." https://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/florida-prisons/article242117931.html
31. Update from Chicago: More than *700* staff and incarcerated people have tested positive at Cook County Jail. A mass disaster. https://twitter.com/shannon_h/status/1252345017345032195?s=20
32. According to the New York Times, of the top 10 largest clusters of COVID infections – infections from a single source – 6 of 10 are prisons or jails.
33. Keep in mind those places are the places we *know about. Some agencies, like Bill de Blasio's NYC DOC refuse to specify how the 1100+ infected people are distributed among the city's multiple jail facilities, so Rikers – which likely belongs on the list – escapes inclusion.
34. Or look at this, in Gov. Cuomo's state prison system, they avoid reporting the likely massive number of incarcerated people who are infected by simply not testing them. 794 prison staff have the virus. And the prison has only tested 1% of prisoners. https://twitter.com/RAPPcampaign/status/1252403954010353665?s=20
35. Grim update from Michigan. Sadly this is just the beginning. We are watching a massive, largely preventable tragedy unfold in our prisons and jails and no one cares. https://twitter.com/JoshuaBHoe/status/1252398128721883138?s=20
36. Experts said that if prisons and jails didn't decarcerate, allow for social distancing, a massive tragedy would unfold. Given how bad these institutions are, it was inevitable. The politicians and DOC heads *KNEW* this would happen. They didn't act. https://twitter.com/theappeal/status/1252401667569401871?s=20
