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Collected Item: “'Severe inhumanity': California prisons overwhelmed by Covid outbreaks and approaching fires”

Give your story a title.

'Severe inhumanity': California prisons overwhelmed by Covid outbreaks and approaching fires

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

images and article

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

This Tweet and article concern the conditions inmates in California's prisons are experiencing. First they had to deal with Covid-19 and figure out how to slow the spread of the disease within overcrowded facilities where social distancing is impossible and mask wearing presents its own set of issues. Second incarcerated people are living in a near constant state of lockdown, visitation and even communication with family and friends is gone. Third they are facing the threat of wildfires within a few miles of several prisons causing the people inside the buildings to breath air filled with smoke. To add insult to injury the state of California uses prison labor to fight these same fires.
This article illustrates how we as a society treat those most at risk among us. Even those in a correctional facility for the terminally ill in hospice care are not being evacuated.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

incarceration, prison, California, wildfire, inhumane, air quality, Covid, outbreak, slow the spread

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://twitter.com/juliacarriew/status/1296916262086250496, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/21/california-fires-prisons-covid-outbreaks

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Julia Carrie Wong, Sam Levin

Give this story a date.

2020-08-21
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