Over 130,000 cases of COVID-19 inside — a COVID-19 update
Marsha Brewer holds a sign she made for a vigil outside of the Colorado prison her husband is held in. Jim is at high risk for COVID-19, but CO’s Gov. Polis has refused to extend executive orders that could release more people held at risk. Read more from me here: Colorado Springs Indy
“These jails and prisons are basically tinder boxes for infectious diseases that could be easily transmitted, usually via respiratory route,” Carlos Franco-Paredes, an associate professor of medicine and infectious disease at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, said.
Franco-Paredes listed the main reasons that jails, detention centers and prisons transmit COVID-19 at higher and more deadly rates than other places:
Poor ventilation in facilities
Close and tight spaces increase the R number (the number of people one infected person successfully passes the virus to)
Increased susceptibility to the virus compared to the general population
“[Incarcerated people] don’t have a choice to shield from the pandemic. And if you don’t do enough to protect them then… it’s the fault of the system.”
The Marshall Project is tracking cases in inmates and staff nationwide for each state:
New data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows the number of people sentenced to more than one year in prison increased in 35 states
The Marion Barry Summer job program in D.C. was a ground breaking program mimicked across the country to stop youth gun violence, but results are mixed.
The Sentencing Project held a webinar to discuss the problems of youth incarceration In the face of increased pretrial detention in The District of Columbia,
Journalists Alex Coma and Mitch Ryals published an investigative story uncovering a criminal investigation of 19 D.C. police officers for misconduct while serving in a crime suppression unit. Originally an internal MPD inquiry, the investigation has since been upgraded to a criminal inquiry, with allegations including taking firearms without making arrests and filing false reports.
My name is Bernard Jemison and I will briefly explain my story. I’ve been incarcerated since May 13, 1998, over 25 years now for felony murder that should have been self-defense. I was sentenced to serve life with the possibility of parole in the Alabama department of corrections.
