Decarcerating Correctional Facilities during COVID-19 Advancing Health, Equity, and Safety (2020) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 11-20
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From page 11... ...
What affects incarcerated people also affects correctional staff, the families of those incarcerated, and the local communities in which the facilities are located. Movement within jails and prisons; transitions among penal facilities, courts, and medical providers; and the daily staff inflow and outflow to and from local communities further challenge public health efforts to contain viral transmission and undertake public health efforts.
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From page 12... ...
Decarceration is one strategy, taken in parallel with other steps to create space and distancing and advance cleaning and health monitoring procedures within correctional facilities. During the pandemic, multiple decarceration efforts across jails, prisons, and detention centers have been undertaken, leading to an approximately 11 percent reduction in incarcerated populations.
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From page 13... ...
In undertaking its charge, the committee interpreted "decarceration efforts" broadly to include efforts both to accelerate release from prisons and jails and to divert people from entering incarceration in the first place.4 It also viewed community supports as including resources and services for previously incarcerated individuals, their families, and their communities necessary to reduce risks of infection and promote well-being. BOX 1-1 Statement of Task The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will con vene an ad hoc committee that will provide advice to policymakers, correctional officials, and public health officials on best practices for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in correctional facilities through large-scale release and decarceration efforts.
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From page 14... ...
. In addition, the positive effects of decarceration on reducing transmission of the virus may extend beyond correctional facilities, enhancing the safety not only of incarcerated people but also of correctional staff and others in the surrounding communities.
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From page 15... ...
, the federal government needs to also consider immediate strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in these centers, including decarceration. The committee chose not to specifically examine juvenile detention centers, recognizing that the committee did not have strong expertise on the juvenile justice system, which operates very differently than adult corrections, and that the science on SARS-CoV-2 transmission among youth continues to be evolving rapidly.
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From page 16... ...
The releases among sentenced jail and prison populations that have occurred have, for the most part, occurred on a case-by-case basis and have been procedurally slow and not well suited to crisis situations. The various stakeholders -- governors, legislators, criminal justice and public health officials, community leaders, and health system and housing and safety net organizations -- will have to coordinate their efforts as they consider policy options to safely reduce incarceration, including community supervision, sentencing, and sanctions; jail and prison release mechanisms; reentry strategies; and community reintegration.
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From page 17... ...
. Beyond these health issues, the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic also disproportionately impacts communities considered to be more racially and ethnically diverse than predominantly White communities (Adhikari et al., 2020; Cowger et al., 2020)
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From page 18... ...
In addition to deliberating on the available scientific literature and evolving information related to correctional settings and the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee heard a presentation from the sponsor and received a commissioned paper from the COVID Prison Project, documenting COVID-19–related data in correctional facilities.12 Two conference calls were also held to hear from both correctional officials and groups representing currently and formerly incarcerated persons to learn about their concerns, challenges, and perspectives on the pandemic and mitigation strategies in place. To supplement its own expertise, the committee also drew on the presentations and discussions in two public webinars hosted by the National Academies' Societal Experts Action Network (see Chapter 5)
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From page 19... ...
Speakers included Jennifer Clarke, Rhode Island Department of Corrections; Vikki Wachino, Community Oriented Correctional Health Services; Brie Williams, University of California, San Fran cisco; and Tyler Winkelman, Hennepin County and University of Minnesota. In preparing this report, the committee drew on its own expertise -- years of studying and working with the criminal justice system and correctional health care -- and studied a burgeoning research literature on the pandemic and incarceration, and it also examined newly collected data on the COVID-19 pandemic in correctional settings and on decarceration efforts.
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From page 20... ...
Chapter 4 focuses on reentry and the community supports in such areas as health care and housing that need to be in place to complement decarceration. Chapter 5 provides background on a number of strategies undertaken or considered to reduce the spread of the virus in correctional settings and offers concrete recommendations for supporting decarceration strategies.
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