Why Our Prisons are Breeding Grounds and Inmates at Risk

I realize that it has been quite some time since I have updated this blog. My life has taken a wild turn that at some point I intend on writing about but until then I wanted to do something different so that maybe I can help address and let others understand while we go through this “global pandemic” of COVID-19 why there has been so much talk about prisons and inmates.

While I cannot say what each Governor of each state has stated about the prisons in their area or what they are doing about the vast inmate population, I can state with almost certainty that every Governor has been posed with the question about how they intend to address this issue. I can also say that the Department of Justice has addressed the issue at the federal level. The Bureau of Prisons state that they have 119 prisons in their system. This does not count their residential re-entry homes, also known as half-way houses, which currently appears to be 22. To add to this you have to remember all of the state prisons and even local jails. By my estimation there are between three and four thousand state prisons across the country. Add to this nearly every county in the country have their own county or local jails.

I attempted to find up to date statistics as to just how many incarcerated individuals there were in the United States. The Bureau of Prisons (controlling federal inmates) states that currently they have 143,407 inmates in their system at this time. This includes inmates in their 119 prison and their 22 re-entry homes (or in home confinement) as those inmates are still considered to be under the control of the BOP. Beyond that I could not find specific statistics sooner than 2009. At that point it was stated that there were approximately 1,326,547 inmates in state systems and 767,620 in local jails. Keep in mind that these statistics do not include any juvenile detention centers. It has long been known that the United States is number one with incarceration rate. In 2018 it was stated that the United States incarcerated 698 individuals per 100,000. All of this being said it would be reasonable to believe that there are nearly 2,000,000 people incarcerated within the United States at any point and time. Of course these inmates are imprisoned for a variety of crimes ranging from the most minor of crimes to the most serious. I should also add that as of January 2020 it was reported that there was 2,620 people on death row in the United States. It is widely reported that the United States leads the world in incarceration rates and yet as high as those numbers are a large number of people will never experience a night in a county jail, let alone a stretch of time within any prison system.

It is for this reason that there are so many who do not understand the focus of inmates during this time of this global pandemic. It is my goal here to help possibly explain some of that. One should keep in mind too, that the most vulnerable during this time are those who, for the most part have committed non-violent or what some consider to be minor crimes. This is because it is those individuals that are housed together most frequently. In the Bureau of Prisons System they have four tiers for inmates, minimum, low, medium and high. As each tier is raised, the security is much higher and the interaction of inmates is much lower. That being said, as the security level is raised so is the staff to inmate ratio. They list 39 facilities that are considered to be low level, with many having adjacent minimum level “camps” connected with a few hundred people. Currently they report that within these low facilities there are between 673 and 2947 incarcerated individuals in each facility. Of those 39 only four have less than one thousand inmates housed in the facility.

Just as is the case in so many other areas of life, prisons are not as you see them on television or in the movies. In most portrayals of prison life within film you only see inmates congregating when there is an issue, such as a riot or protest, or at the very least, by choice. From time to time you will see when someone is arrested they are put in a large room with several people but it is indicated that this only happens for a few hours or overnight. Prisons and jails are portrayed as housing inmates in individual cells that at the most contain two to four people. That would indicate to the general public that the “social distancing” that we are being asked to utilize at this time to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is completely obtainable and easy to do. But, that is not how things really work. The Bureau of Prisons has described their facilities as small cities. In most, if not all, of the county jails as well as low security facilities inmates are housed in areas in which open bunks are placed along the edges of a large room with inmates in constant contact. I will give specifics of one particular prison described as low security. There are 1,826 inmates at the facility. There are three “dorms” and each dorm is divided into four areas. For the most part all inmates can move around the four areas freely with their “cot” located in one of the four areas. If we take that number and divide it equally that is over 600 inmates per each of the three dorms with an average of 152 people in each of the four areas at any given time, that of course is contingent on the fact that each of the 152 people stay in their designated area. Inmates sleep on cots in which are two high along the edges of the room and placed head to head. In these situations there is absolutely no way to social distance from each other even if everyone remained on their own cot 24/7, which is obviously not possible.

One of the first steps that most jails and prisons took was to suspend visitation to inmates. This occurred in the Bureau of Prisons around the second week of March. By this time we knew for a fact that COVID-19 had been in the United States for at least a month and a half and we are learning that it may have been much longer than that. Soon after that they began restricting visits from attorneys; then it was preventing volunteer staff from the outside that did things such as run educational and recreational programs. By the middle of March many facilities had began restricting movements of inmates. Some of them started with only allowing inmates who worked in “essential” areas such as the cafeteria and laundry areas to leave their designated areas. Soon that too was stopped. As of early April, those prisons with in the federal system who had not officially stopped as much movement as possible were ordered to do so by the DOJ. They have done so in 14 day increments, just as many Governors across the United States has done. Some of the higher security prison have restricted movements even further, only allowing inmates out of their designated cells a few hours a week, while others are still allowed to freely roam through their dorms, and now with more people as the restrictions are keeping everyone in the same area. Food has been brought into the areas by staff and the only outside movement has come when their areas are being thoroughly cleaned which seems to happen every one to two weeks.

While some could attempt to argue that while we, as free citizens are restricted to associating with only those in which we reside with, so are the inmates. This is not entirely true in either case actually. Many of us still have jobs that are considered to be essential and out in the public and around people every day at work while others enter grocery stores and other essential businesses. In many of those cases we are still able to adhere to the social distancing rules, although some obviously have chosen not to and sometimes that too is impossible. In the cases of inmates they are still exposed to staff who have engaged within the outside world and return to work every day. Just as it is nearly impossible for the inmates to engage in social distancing the same can be said when being exposed to staff.

We have all been told that it can take up to 14 days for someone to show symptoms of COVID-19 once we are exposed. It has been recommended by the CDC and top health officials that one should self isolate not just within their homes but in particular areas of their homes when they have been exposed. Obviously this is not always possible to do but is much more obtainable than those in the prison setting. One can safely assume that nearly all of the nearly 150,000 inmates in the federal system and the nearly two million in other systems have been exposed to the virus. There is absolutely no way to isolate all those people separately. In addition to this while many prisons have claimed that once an inmate begins to show symptoms they are isolated from other inmates statistics and other information have shown this not to be true. It has been reported that isolation does not begin until the inmate has tested positive, something that can take a week between testing and results. Regardless of that fact once an inmate exhibits symptoms the rest of the population has been exposed and again, there is no way to completely isolate every single inmate within a facility. In addition to this the Bureau of Prisons, as with many other establishments, are reporting the numbers of inmates and staff who have tested positive for the COVID-19 as well as deaths associated with them. As each inmate tests positive they have exposed not just the inmate population but the staff that then takes that back out into the community.

While many Governors and high officials have called nursing homes and long term care facilities as containing the most vulnerable of our citizens, many often fail to mention incarcerated individuals. The difference between the two, (nursing homes and prisons) is that the movement of individuals and their exposure can be controlled at a much better rate than those incarcerated. Residents at nursing homes are generally in one to two person rooms and can be isolated at a much better rate than those at jails and prisons. A door can be closed and protective gear placed outside the room and changed more often. By limiting movement within the facility they can isolate that individual from everyone aside from possibly a roommate or staff. Yes, those in long term care facilities have a harder time fighting off this virus, but they are not the only ones. There are many incarcerated individuals who are just as vulnerable but have little to no resources or ways to to isolate and receive care.

As of today the Bureau of Prisons has reported that they have had 24 inmates die from COVID-19 with 620 inmates and 357 staff members who have tested positive. What I can tell you is that this number is inaccurate and is much higher. This is the current number that they have listed on their website, per the facility numbers. However, I know of a particular facility in which the numbers have fluctuated up and down, indicating that they are removing numbers as they deem appropriate and in turn makes it hard determine actual numbers. In fairness they do say 302 inmates have recovered from the virus but again with the playing with the numbers it is impossible to determine if this number is correct. I have seen several instances in which states have reported a particular number from a prison and yet the prison indicated a different number and when asked why there was a discrepancy an answer was not given.

The overwhelming idea is that inmates are in prison for a reason. In many cases that is true. But as a follower of my blog then you know there have been questions as to the guilt of many inmates. We have seen time and time again where information, long after a conviction, comes into light and an inmate is released and cases dropped. There is ultimately always someone who would say something along the lines of “If they had not broken the law they would not be in jail or prison and at risk.” The core of that statement is true but what many fail to realize is the range of crimes in these facilities, especially at low facilities such as described above. They are considered to be the least violent offenders. Offenders in these facilities are for the most part “short timers” or coming to the end of their prison time and have been moved down in security. In fact, as people come nearer to their time of release they are often sent to lower security prisons. The point is that these people were not violent offenders who received a life or even death sentence. They are low level offenders who in many cases are first time offenders with minor crimes. Obviously there are those who are vulnerable to this virus and a high risk. Many of them are already not being treated for these underlying risks due to the fact that medical facilities and resources are not readily available or utilized as it should be in the prison system.

I hope that for some of you who have not understood the release of inmates in jails and prisons have received some answers. A majority of the more than two million people incarcerated in this country have family and friends who care about them so this affects way more than just those facilities; just those inmates; just those staff.