COVID-19 escalates in prisons – tell the CDC to act now

COVID-19 outbreaks are rapidly escalating within jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers. People behind bars, including many for drug offenses, have already tragically died.

We know that people who are incarcerated are especially vulnerable during this crisis. Yet, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has failed to adequately address the need to decarcerate and release people to combat COVID-19 in our communities.

Join us in calling on the CDC to include the release of people from prison and jails in its COVID-19 guidelines to slow the spread and save lives.

Take Action

Your Message

Subject

Dear Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Leadership,

Message Body

Hundreds of institutions, researchers, academics, clinicians, public health organizations, and other experts within the public health community recently sent you a letter calling for the CDC to explicitly include decarceration and expanded access to healthcare in its guidelines to help curb the impact of COVID-19 in jails, prisons, youth detention facilities, and immigrant detention centers: https://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/cdc-letter-decarceration_0.pdf

It was disappointing to see the CDC release more recommendations on May 6th related to correctional and detention settings that do not explicitly name or call for reducing the incarcerated and detained population as one of the top ways to mitigate the public health nightmare we are seeing in our nation’s jails, prisons, and detention centers.

As a member of the public, I stand with the recommendations and guidance included in the letter linked above and urge the CDC to adopt them as soon as possible to save lives.

On March 23, 2020, the CDC released guidance specific to incarcerated populations-- the “Interim Guidance on Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Correctional and Detention Facilities.” While this guidance is welcome at a time that our most vulnerable populations need extra protection, the guidance was conspicuously lacking decarceration as the most effective strategy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and save lives in incarceration settings.

Incarcerated individuals – many of whom are elderly and/or medically vulnerable – face some of the greatest risks associated with COVID-19. Jails, prisons, and youth/immigrant detention centers are hotbeds for the spread of disease due to crowded, confined, and often unsanitary conditions. There already have been several reports of incarcerated individuals and correctional staff testing positive for COVID-19. In a little over a week, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported eight deaths of incarcerated people who were in federal custody. With already over 250 incarcerated people with a confirmed positive test result for COVID-19, thousands of more deaths will surely follow.

I call on the CDC to quickly urge federal, state and local government officials to take the following actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in these facilities:

--Reduce the prison population by prioritizing the immediate release of elderly and medically vulnerable people.
--Reduce the prison population by agreeing to the early release of anyone within 18 months of their release date.
--Reduce the local jail population by releasing anyone who is held pretrial unless they have been formally charged with an offense that involves a specific allegation of the intentional use of force to cause serious bodily injury against the person of another.
--Reduce the prison population by halting all new state prison sentences unless the individual has been formally charged with an offense that involves a specific allegation of the intentional use of force to cause serious bodily injury against the person of another.
--Reduce the local jail population by implementing a practice of automatic release of all people serving a misdemeanor sentence and diligent review of felony cases for eligibility for release. 
--Reduce the prison and jail populations by releasing all people held on probation and parole technical violation detainers or sentences.
--Reduce the jail population by avoiding new custodial arrests for crimes that do not pose an unreasonable safety risk to a specific person or persons.
--Release all persons, adults, and children detained in youth and immigrant detention, including using discretionary power to release all youth and immigration detainees on parole or using alternatives to detention methods.

Additionally, the CDC must also encourage government officials to ensure that all states and localities provide adequate healthcare to incarcerated people and to those released from custody during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC must emphasize the importance of Medicaid coverage in and out of correctional and detention facilities. Lack of effective healthcare access in correctional facilities, and failure to facilitate access to Medicaid for those who are eligible post-release, will have dire and fatal consequences for many.

The CDC must urge government officials to ensure that all newly released individuals who are Medicaid eligible can access vital healthcare, including but not limited to, COVID-19 related care and medications for addiction treatment for the disproportionate number of justice-involved people with a history of substance use disorders. Additionally, the CDC should urge and encourage states with the ability to restart Medicaid benefits prior to release from custody to do so in order to provide more effective care and treatment related to COVID-19, and other health conditions.

We are running out of time to save lives during this public health crisis. I strongly urge the CDC to be on the right side of history and explicitly include decarceration and expanded access to healthcare in their guidelines regarding incarcerated populations.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]
[Your Address]

Your Information

Salutation *

First name *

Last name *

E-mail address *

Address *

Address Line 2

City *

State *

Zip Code *

Phone

* Drug Policy Alliance is committed to protecting your privacy and will never share your email address.

If you sign and have not already registered, you will receive periodic updates and communications from the Drug Policy Alliance.

If you take action and have not already registered, you will receive periodic updates and communications from the Drug Policy Alliance.

If you donate and have not already registered, you will receive periodic updates and communications from the Drug Policy Alliance.