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Tell Congress:
"We demand that you act immediately to guarantee incarcerated people are protected during the COVID-19 pandemic."
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Friend,
Public health officials are sounding the alarm about the dangers that jails and prisons pose amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These risks are not only to prisoners, but also to medical professionals, corrective officers, and other employees in the prison, who will travel in and out of the facility and endanger the general public.
Data for Progress has studied public opinion on this issue, and found strong, cross-ideological support for the strategy of dramatically reducing jail and prison populations to slow the spread of coronavirus. Many public officials are still hesitant to take action to aid incarcerated people. That’s why we need a massive public outcry, now.
ADD YOUR NAME: Congress must take action to reduce the prison population for public health now!
The fact of the matter is, it’s impossible to practice social distancing when you’re sharing a bathroom. Yet that’s exactly what 2.3 million adults and children who are incarcerated in jails and prisons right now are being forced to do. And over half a million of them have not been convicted of a crime, and are detained solely because they cannot afford to pay money bail.
Jails and prisons inherently involve crowded and confined spaces where people—those incarcerated along with visitors, lawyers, medical personnel, vendors, and staff—necessarily interact in close quarters. There is no social distancing behind prison walls. These facilities are filthy, with access to basic sanitary needs like soap and hot water often restricted, if available at all. Hand sanitizer, a staple of disease prevention on the outside, is generally prohibited because of its alcohol content. People inside are in effect barred from adhering to the practices designed to slow the spread of infections.
ADD YOUR NAME: We need to take action now to reduce the prison population for public health!
Thanks,
Sean McElwee
Data for Progress
