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Collected Item: “‘Jails Are Petri Dishes’”

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‘Jails Are Petri Dishes’

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

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.

As the US faced the real threat of the coronavirus it became clear that "jails are petri dishes." Due to overcrowding and the large number of people that go in and out of the buildings daily it is impossible to stop the virus from coming in and spreading rapidly. Government and prison officials began discussing early release or releasing those still awaiting trial, particularly for nonviolent offenses.

As with the rest of the nation the fear is that the virus will spread so quickly that the nations medical system will be overwhelmed. The same is true within the prison but the fear is that the inmates and employees of the prisons will add to the medical crises outside the prison.

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?

prison, incarcerated, early release, infection rate, social distancing, hand sanitizer

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/us/coronavirus-prisons-jails.html

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

Timothy Williams, Benjamin Weiser and William K. Rashbaum

Give this story a date.

2020-03-30
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