Tag: coronavirus

As this story is posted, another death of a prisoner is reported at Oakdale. Officials of the guards' union there describe the prison as "ground zero" for the coronavirus outbreak in the federal prison system.

In the wake of COVID19, working class people all across the city are being severely impacted. Their employers are asking them to resign, to use paid time off, to use vacation time, to reduce their hours, to work for less than minimum wage – and there is still no promise of compensation and coverage in sight.

We are in the midst of a global pandemic, and our communities are deeply and directly affected. We, a coalition of Bay Area organizations and inter-regional allies, are committed to working diligently to ensure that the repercussions and reverberations of COVID-19 do not lead to more harm and violence in our communities, but instead offer an opportunity to reshape our relationship to safety.

Just over a week into the “shelter in place” directive that is now statewide, COVID-19 has reached Santa Rita Jail. Alameda County confirmed on March 26 that a nurse working in one of the jail’s housing units has tested positive for the virus.

DEFENDER Europe 20, NATO’s latest anti-Russian war games, began in February. On March 13, the German army announced that it would not participate and withdrew its troops for fear of spreading the coronavirus. On March 11, Norway’s armed forces canceled Cold Response, more anti-Russian war games.

Following up on “Justice organizations call on California Gov. Newsom to act now to reduce COVID-19 risks in state prisons,” The Justice Collaborative sent these more specific and detailed recommendations to key members of Gov. Newsom’s administration.

We encourage incarcerated people and family members to call 510-301-9403 or email prisonsareunhealthy@protonmail.com with any urgent information regarding the status of COVID-19 inside prisons, jails, detention and so-called medical facilities.

Correctional experts explain that the release of vulnerable populations – who are overwhelmingly older, seriously mentally ill, physically disabled, and/or chronically ill – presents little or no public safety risk of recidivism, while correctional medical and mental health experts predict that failure to reduce the prison population would result in increased numbers of deaths.

COVID-19 test kits must be provided for employees and prisoners who work and are housed in facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I have engaged in some investigative journalism and discovered that prison administrators at the Federal Correctional Complex at Pollock, Louisiana, have ordered screening for all federal employees entering the federal prison complex at Pollock daily, but because of a shortage of COVID-19 test kits, the BOP employees are not being tested!

Today, U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush, D-Illinois, sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, calling on Director Michael Carvajal to release elderly, nonviolent prisoners in an attempt to mitigate any risk of infection to the prison population.

San Francisco – In light of the statewide mandated shelter-in-place order, along with the social​ distancing directions from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Supervisor Dean Preston has taken matters into his own hands and secured hotel rooms for otherwise unhoused women and families who currently are living in congregate settings, most of whom are in vulnerable populations.

“Dear U.S. Attorney General: For over 100 years, citizens born and naturalized in the U.S. who have been convicted of crime have endured the inhumane indignity of being stripped of our citizenship and right to vote through felony disenfranchisement by way of the United States Constitution’s 13th Amendment. Additionally, citizens who have been arrested or continue to be housed in jails and prisons nationally in all 50 sovereign states have been subjected to the conspiratorial practice of police and/or prison officials who violate our First Amendment right to free speech as well as political association through on-going censorship practices that limit what we can read or write and to whom.” – Excerpt of grievance crafted by North Carolina Department of Correction prisoners Randy Watterson and Joseph “Shine White” Stewart

We are calling on the City to house every single homeless person in a vacant housing unit immediately, prioritizing those who fall into the high-risk category.

Today, Supervisors Hillary Ronen, Matt Haney, Dean Preston, Aaron Peskin and Shamann Walton, in City Hall’s first all-virtual press conference, called for a major shift in the City response to COVID-19 to prioritize temporarily housing people experiencing homelessness.

Oakland, Calif. – Lawyers with the Public Defender’s Office in collaboration with the sheriff, prosecutors and courts have secured the release of more than 300 people because of the threat of COVID-19 in Santa Rita County Jail. Most of those had 45 days or less to serve in jail.

We can’t sit on the sidelines waiting for someone to save us. We need to link arms and remember that all we have is each other, and we’d better get organized to take housing, to take land, to take back a future for ourselves and our children.

In this moment of crisis, the prisons will act as an incubator for COVID-19. If we want to protect the entire country from this disease, we must empty the prisons.

“The proven and most effective way to combat the spread of infectious diseases inside of jails is to reduce the imprisoned population and release people back into their communities.” - No New SF Jail Coalition

There are so many more terrorizing things in this poverty skola’s life than a virus. Before you read on, please turn your phone, TV, radio or computer off for just a minute. Take a deep breath and give your corporate media-terrorized mind a rest.

by Dorsey Nunn, executive director of Legal Services for Prisoners With Children and co-founder of All of Us or None I was incarcerated in San...