Best Practices to Assuage COVID-19 Risk in Jails and Prisons

Carceral settings have been disparately impacted by the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19). Many of those who are incarcerated have a high burden of poor health outcomes and/or are aging, making them likely to suffer severely from COVID-19. In addition, the built environments of prisons and jails makes social distancing, a key practice in the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, virtually impossible. In order to stop the swift, deadly spread of COVID-19 throughout correctional facilities, efforts must be made to decarcerate via compassionate release and the elimination of cash bail. At minimum, mass testing practices, as well as humane methods for medical quarantine and isolation, must be implemented in prisons. COVID-19 has ultimately shed light on the intersection of public health and hyperincarceration in the United States, as well as the connectedness between prisons and jails and their surrounding communities.