老澳门开奖结果

NEW YORK 鈥� Today, the 老澳门开奖结果 and the Prison Policy Initiative released a 50-state report entitled 鈥淔ailing Grades: States鈥� Responses to COVID-19 in Jails & Prisons.鈥� The report shows that, despite having ample time and information to take the steps necessary to heed the warnings of experts and save the lives of those incarcerated in their prisons and jails, state governments across the country refused to adequately address the threat that the COVID-19 pandemic poses in jails and prisons. The new report explains how each state ignored the pleas of incarcerated people and the warnings of medical experts. Nine of the 10 largest clusters of COVID-19 in the nation are in prisons and jails.

The report evaluates states' responses to the spread of COVID-19 in prisons and jails using the following criteria:

• Did/does the state department of corrections provide testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) to correctional staff and the incarcerated population?
• Did/does the state reduce county jail populations and state prison populations in response to the spread of the pandemic?
• Did the governor issue an executive order 鈥� or the department of corrections issue a directive 鈥� accelerating the release from state prisons of medically vulnerable individuals and/or those near the end of their sentence?
• Did/does the state publish regularly updated, publicly available data on COVID-19 in the state prison system?

鈥淕overnors across the nation have failed to take adequate steps to protect people in prisons and jails from the COVID-19 pandemic. From the outset of the pandemic, public health experts sounded the alarm that without swift and drastic actions, prisons and jails across the country would see severe outbreaks of COVID-19,鈥� said Udi Ofer, director of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Justice Division. 鈥淭oday, prisons and jails are ground zero for the COVID-19 pandemic, inflicting particular devastation on Black and Brown people, yet prisons and jails continue to be largely ignored in the government鈥檚 response to the pandemic. This report not only highlights that callous disregard but provides actionable steps for those same governments to take immediate steps to save the lives of people in jails and prisons.鈥�

鈥淔ailing Grades: States鈥� Responses to COVID-19 in Jails & Prisons鈥� comes at a time when COVID-19 is . Millions of people leave jails and prisons every year, each person serving as a vector to outside communities, as documented in a recent 老澳门开奖结果 report. Too many facilities are still responding ineffectively in a way that further . The assessments in the report offer guidance as to what states can still do to save lives now and in the case of future waves of COVID-19 鈥� or future pandemics. There is a key lesson to be learned: States must downsize the footprint of their criminal legal system for the sake of public health and racial justice.

The report is available here: /report/failing-grades-states-responses-covid-19-jai...