1. Jails and prisons are becoming the epicenter of the coronavirus in America. And it's hard to overstate the degree to which the corrections profession has failed.
2. The infection rate at NYC's Rikers Island jail is 8x higher than NYC itself. And NYC is the world-epicenter of the coronavirus. slate.com/technology/202…
3. In Philadelphia, the jail infection rate is twice as high as the infection rate of even the most infected Philly neighborhoods. philadefender.org/covid-philly-j… 
4. In Chicago, the infection rate at Cook County Jail is **30x** higher than the rest of the county.
5. In fact, data compiled by the New York Times found that Cook County Jail was "the nation’s largest-known source of coronavirus infections... with more confirmed cases than the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt [or] the nursing home in Kirkland, Washington." nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/…
6. As of a day or two ago, *306* people incarcerated at Cook County Jail had tested positive for the virus as well as *218* staff. A total disaster – for guards as well as inmates. nbcchicago.com/news/local/3rd…
7. The same is true at the jail in Washington, DC. The infection rate at the DC Jail is *14x* higher than the rate in the city as a whole.
Not 14% higher. *14x* higher.
Not 14% higher. *14x* higher.
8. The infection rate at this Massachusetts state prison, MCI-Framingham, a women's facility, is a staggering 10%.
In other words, the prison's infection rate is *26x* higher than the state's infection rate.
Again, not 26% higher. 26 TIMES higher.
In other words, the prison's infection rate is *26x* higher than the state's infection rate.
Again, not 26% higher. 26 TIMES higher.
9. The COVID-19 infection rate at the Cummins Unit prison in the Arkansas DOC is *1800x the infection rate for the state of Arkansas as a whole.
Just think about that for a minute. Not 1800%. 1800 TIMES. motherjones.com/coronavirus-up…
Just think about that for a minute. Not 1800%. 1800 TIMES. motherjones.com/coronavirus-up…
10. An update from the unfolding tragedy at Bill de Blasio's Rikers Island jail, where the infection rate is 6x higher than the rate of NYC and 45x the rate of the United States.
11. The infection rate at Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's prison – Parnall Correctional Facility – has an infection rate of 10% for prisoners and 21% for staff. cc: @GovWhitmer freep.com/story/news/loc…
12. To put it differently, the infection rate among inmates at @GovWhitmer's Parnall prison is about 82x the infection rate of the county as a whole. For staff, it's 170x the county as a whole. Whitmer is causing a mass disaster. freep.com/story/news/loc…
13. The infection rate in the Harris County (Houston, TX) Jail run by Sheriff Ed Gonzalez @SheriffEd_HCSO is 7.5x higher than the infection rate of the county as a whole. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
14. In Sheriff Gonzalez @SheriffEd_HCSO's jail, the infection rate is ~3x *higher for staff than for the inmates. For the staff, the infection rate is ~22x the infection rate of the county. @SheriffEd_HCSO liquidating his own employees in order preserve mass incarceration.
15. In Ohio Governor @MikeDeWine's prisons, 273 incarcerated people have tested positive for the coronavirus. That means the infection rate in the prisons is 8x the infection rate of the state as a whole. dispatch.com/news/20200415/…
16. An update on DC: The infection rate of people incarcerated in the local jail is 13x the infection rate of the city as a whole.
17. There are 132 incarcerated people infected at Ohio Governor @MikeDeWine's Pickaway County Correctional Institution out of a total population of ~1860. That's a whopping 7% or 105x the rate of the state as a whole. Not 105%. 105 *TIMES
At Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker's prison, MCI-Bridgewater, there are 50 infected people (residents + staff). Four people are already dead.
"You’re sitting there in a group, not socially distancing, and no one has protective gear." bostonglobe.com/2020/04/16/met…
"You’re sitting there in a group, not socially distancing, and no one has protective gear." bostonglobe.com/2020/04/16/met…
19. At Ohio Governor @MikeDewine's prison, Marion Correctional Institution, 71% of the incarcerated people are infected. *71%*. That's **720x*** the infection rate of Ohio as a whole. A disaster and utterly predictable.
20. Also note, as is true at so many of these facilities, at @MikeDeWine's Marion Correctional Institution, TONS of staff are infected as well, 109 to be precise.
21. The infection of massive number of corrections staff is not limited to Ohio. In @andrewcuomo's New York, 753 prison staff are infected, and yet he does almost nothing to alleviate the prison crowding. Imagine caring so little *even about the staff*.
22. As Piper reminds us, these are not just numbers. These are real human beings who have people who care about them.
23. An update on the disaster unfolding at the DC Jail where 89 incarcerated people have tested positive.
24. Keep in mind, the above are facilities where we know the situation because there is a modicum of data being made public. That is not true everywhere. In some places, like @GovTimWalz's Minnesota, they're hiding information about the catastrophe.
25. According to the New York Times, of the top clusters of cases – cases connected to a single source – four of the top six are prisons.
26. At Taconic Correctional Facility, a medium security women’s prison run by @NYGovCuomo, there 210 infected women and five fatalities. dissentmagazine.org/online_article…
27. A state prison in Marion, Ohio, is now the United States' largest known source of COVID-19 infections. Chicago's Cook County jail had previously been the largest single source of cases in the U.S. axios.com/ohio-prison-co…
28. 1 in 5 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ohio can now be traced back to the state's prison system. axios.com/ohio-prison-co…
29. At the Beto Unit – a prison run by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in Palestine, Texas – 106 inmates, or 3% of the population, are infected with COVID-19. The rate of infection at Beto is 500x that of the county as a whole. kltv.com/2020/04/16/tdc…
30. Another Florida prison becomes a COVID-19 hot spot.
"Inmates with COVID-19 at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach soared.... As of Saturday evening, 85 inmates and 78 staff members had tested positive... 4 inmates had died." miamiherald.com/news/special-r…
"Inmates with COVID-19 at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach soared.... As of Saturday evening, 85 inmates and 78 staff members had tested positive... 4 inmates had died." miamiherald.com/news/special-r…
31. Update from Chicago: More than *700* staff and incarcerated people have tested positive at Cook County Jail. A mass disaster.
32. According to the New York Times, of the top 10 largest clusters of COVID infections – infections from a single source – 6 of 10 are prisons or jails.
33. Keep in mind those places are the places we *know about. Some agencies, like Bill de Blasio's NYC DOC refuse to specify how the 1100+ infected people are distributed among the city's multiple jail facilities, so Rikers – which likely belongs on the list – escapes inclusion.
34. Or look at this, in Gov. Cuomo's state prison system, they avoid reporting the likely massive number of incarcerated people who are infected by simply not testing them. 794 prison staff have the virus. And the prison has only tested 1% of prisoners.
35. Grim update from Michigan. Sadly this is just the beginning. We are watching a massive, largely preventable tragedy unfold in our prisons and jails and no one cares.
36. Experts said that if prisons and jails didn't decarcerate, allow for social distancing, a massive tragedy would unfold. Given how bad these institutions are, it was inevitable. The politicians and DOC heads *KNEW* this would happen. They didn't act.
37. The epidemic has run rampant at several Ohio prisons. 1000s of infected prisoners. 100s of infected staff.
38. Ohio was well on its way to flattening its curve, then the virus got into the prisons. Public health and prisoner health are one in the same. (h/t @WarOnDumb)
39. There are more infected people at Ohio's Marion Correctional Institution than any county in the state. The infected people at Marion Correctional – prisoners and guards – represent 17%+ of the state's total caseload. clevescene.com/scene-and-hear…
40. Striking to see corrections leaders stubbornly refuse to decarcerate even though public health officials say that's what they need to do, for THEIR OWN SAFETY as well as the safety of inmates. Sacrificing themselves on the altar of mass incarceration.
41. An update from Stateville Prison in Joliet, Illinois where a major outbreak is ongoing.
42. Nearly a third of Arkansas' coronavirus cases come from its state prison system. newsweek.com/one-arkansas-p…
43. At North Carolina Governor @RoyCooperNC's Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro, NC 458 people have tested positive for the virus. That one prison accounts for about 7% of the infections in the entire state.
44. 12% of the New Orleans jail has tested positive. That's 97 infected people. That's 8x the rate of the parish as a whole, and 22x the rate of Louisiana.
45. Finally someone doing something in the face of this slow motion mass catastrophe:
Judge orders federal officials to release or transfer vulnerable inmates from Ohio’s sole federal prison after 62 inmates, 46 staff test positive. cleveland.com/court-justice/…
Judge orders federal officials to release or transfer vulnerable inmates from Ohio’s sole federal prison after 62 inmates, 46 staff test positive. cleveland.com/court-justice/…
46. Disaster unfolding in Michigan Governor @GovWhitmer's prisons. 900+ prisoners and 240 staff have tested positive.
47. An update from Asa Hutchinson's Cummins Unit prison in Arkansas where *687* incarcerated people have tested positive along with dozens of staff.
48. North Carolina has tested ~5200 prison inmates for coronavirus. Almost 3800 of them – 73% – have tested positive. drc.ohio.gov/Portals/0/DRC%…
49. Eight of the top ten clusters of cases are American prisons or jails. They are the epicenter of the pandemic.
50. Of the top 20 clusters of cases:
12 are prisons or jails
4 are meat-packing plants
2 are veterans homes
1 is an aircraft carrier
1 is a psychiatric hospital
And that's with the vast majority of prisons and jails doing little/no testing.
12 are prisons or jails
4 are meat-packing plants
2 are veterans homes
1 is an aircraft carrier
1 is a psychiatric hospital
And that's with the vast majority of prisons and jails doing little/no testing.
51. There is a massive outbreak of coronavirus at Houston's Harris County Jail. 262 incarcerated people are infected and they've only tested a fraction of the incarcerated population. ~180 guards are infected as well. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
51. At Neuse State Prison in Goldsboro, North Carolina they had an outbreak of 39 incarcerated people with the virus. So they decided to test everyone. Turns out 444 people were infected. Imagine if more prisons did widespread testing. usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
52. At the federal women's prison in Danbury, Connecticut, there are 40 incarcerated people and 30 staff with the virus. Women with high fevers or difficulty breathing have not been tested or removed from crowded living spaces. courant.com/coronavirus/hc…
53. As death count grows, Louisiana prisons and jails grapple with coronavirus spread. nola.com/news/coronavir…
54. 106 prisoners have tested positive at Massachusetts Correctional Institution Shirley even though fewer than 20% of those incarcerated there have been tested. wbur.org/commonhealth/2…
55. At NYC's Rikers Island Jail, 964 DOC staff, 158 health care workers and 378 incarcerated people have tested positive for coronavirus. thecity.nyc/2020/04/rikers…
56. The curve is not flattening in American prisons. In fact just the opposite, the virus is entering prisons and infection numbers are growing at a massive rate. themarshallproject.org/2020/04/24/tra…
57. At the Montgomery County Jail in suburban Philadelphia, 177 incarcerated people have tested positive. The infection rate in the jail is 30x greater than the county as a whole. inquirer.com/news/coronavir…
58. At the Shelby County Jail in Memphis, 155 incarcerated people and 37 staff have tested positive for the virus. 100s more remain untested. commercialappeal.com/story/news/hea…
59. At the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in Los Angeles, 443 of the prison’s 1,055 inmates have tested positive. The prison's infection rate is 350x the infection rate of the state. latimes.com/california/sto…
60. "A dangerous situation"
At Kansas' Lansing Correctional Facility, 75 staff have tested positive as have scores of incarcerated people. Together this has created "a perfect storm," and the national guard has been mobilized. kansascity.com/article2423799…
At Kansas' Lansing Correctional Facility, 75 staff have tested positive as have scores of incarcerated people. Together this has created "a perfect storm," and the national guard has been mobilized. kansascity.com/article2423799…
61. At the federal prison in Forth Worth, Texas, 298 incarcerated people have tested positive for the virus, some have died, several more are on ventilators. dallasnews.com/news/public-he…
62. Here's a website with updated data and useful data visualizations for the outbreak at Cook County Jail. datastudio.google.com/reporting/1AI4…
63. 570 inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island have coronavirus as do 10 staff members. For incarcerated people there, the infection rate is 50%. wtvr.com/news/national/…
64. As Texas businesses reopen, prisons stay on lockdown, amid coronavirus outbreak.
More than 1,100 inmates and 400 prison employees have tested positive for COVID-19. dallasnews.com/news/public-he…
More than 1,100 inmates and 400 prison employees have tested positive for COVID-19. dallasnews.com/news/public-he…
65. After limited testing uncovered more than 2,000 coronavirus cases at just four prisons, Tennessee launches widespread testing of incarcerated people. newschannel9.com/news/local/ten…
66. Tennessee to test all inmates, prison staff after massive COVID-19 outbreak at Trousdale Turner Prison infects 1,349 people. tennessean.com/story/news/pol…
67. “The truth is that the prisons and jails cannot keep vulnerable people safe right now... No one detained or incarcerated has been sentenced to die." politico.com/states/new-yor…
68. Texas prisons see more than 38,000% spike in coronavirus cases. kvue.com/article/news/i…
69. State reports 1,000-plus COVID-19 case jump largely due to prison outbreak. williamsonherald.com/news/state-rep…
70. Of the 103 people in Bexar County (San Antonio, TX) who tested positive on Friday, 91 came from the Bexar County Jail. ksat.com/news/local/202…
71. Of the counties with the highest per capita infection rates, five of the top 10 are counties with major prison outbreaks:
Trousdale, TN
Lincoln, AR
Bledsoe, TN
Marion, OH
Pickaway, OH
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Trousdale, TN
Lincoln, AR
Bledsoe, TN
Marion, OH
Pickaway, OH
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
72. Seventy more people test positive for coronavirus at Massachusetts Department of Correction prison, MTC-Bridgewater. That brings the total to 115 incarcerated people and 12 staff who have tested positive at that facility. masslive.com/coronavirus/20…
73. In New Mexico, as coronavirus spreads like wildfire in some of the rural portions of the state – even leading to the closing of roads – governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has only bothered to test 8 prisoners in a system with 6500+ inmates. nmindepth.com/2020/05/01/fai…
74. Two of the country's worst COVID-19 hot spots are in rural Tennessee — both are prisons. nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-t…
75. Prisons Are Coronavirus Hotspots. This Town's Got Five of Them. themarshallproject.org/2020/05/04/pri…
76. At Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas, 609 people have tested positive.
77. There is a huge new outbreak at SCI-Huntingdon prison in Pennsylvania.
78. I hadn't previously seen: there are 309 cases at Green River Correctional Complex in rural Kentucky.
79. COVID-19 infections are rising rapidly in Indiana prisons. "As of Tuesday, it had reported 692 total cases – 487 prisoners and 205 staffers." courierpress.com/story/opinion/…
80. "I feel like I’m in a tomb." In Kansas prisons, COVID-19 kindles festering problems
"Lansing inmate Michael Yardley’s sense of taste and smell has faded, a tell-tale sign of the coronavirus that’s infected 551 of his fellow prisoners and killed 3..." kansas.com/news/politics-…
"Lansing inmate Michael Yardley’s sense of taste and smell has faded, a tell-tale sign of the coronavirus that’s infected 551 of his fellow prisoners and killed 3..." kansas.com/news/politics-…
81. Over 5,000 corrections officers have contracted COVID-19. abcnews.go.com/US/5000-correc…
82. Updated figures from Lansing prison in Kansas. A total disaster.
83. Coronavirus crisis at infected Kentucky prison is virtually hopeless, doctors say courier-journal.com/story/news/202…
