Tag: COVID-19

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!

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.

California Coalition for Women Prisoners calls on prison administrators and state representatives to release elderly and at-risk populations and take necessary sanitary and human rights precautions to protect our communities from COVID-19

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.

Support demands by CPF and the Prisoner Human Rights Movement that Gov. Newsom release all state prisoners who are medically fragile or over 60, starting with the authors of the Agreement to End Hostilities and followed by the remaining members of the Ashker Class Action Settlement.

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.

Fair and Just Prosecution, a coalition of newly-elected local prosecutors committed to a justice system with fairness, equity, and compassion, denounces the public health hazard of incarceration in the face of COVID-19 and calls for decarceration, humane conditions, healthcare measures, and a reduction of immigrant detention to keep our communities safe during and after the outbreak.

“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...

If federal, state and local officials take swift action, they can not only prevent the spread of COVID-19 inside prisons, jails and detention centers and ensure the safety and wellness of our loved ones in cages, but they can also have an enormous impact on the wellness of the rest of the country.

Prison Policy Initiative offers five examples of policies that could slow the spread of a viral pandemic in prisons and jails – and would mitigate the everyday impact of incarceration on public health.

A coalition of more than 20 California justice organizations sent this letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday, March 13, imploring him to take immediate steps to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in state prisons and the surrounding communities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHwn0suWJ4U

“In this moment of crisis, more and more people understand that we need fundamental changes to our economy, and we need fundamental changes to our healthcare system.” – Sen. Bernie Sanders

“Given the public health emergency posed by coronavirus, my office is seeking the immediate release of all incarcerated people sentenced to county jail in San Francisco who have less than six months left to serve,” said Public Defender Mano Raju.