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  2020-06-29

  Pretrial Policies Drive Jail Growth

  This Twitter screenshot of a graph illustrating the number of people in the nations jails waiting for trial far outweighs the number of people who have been convicted of a crime. The covid crisis has exposed the make up of the jail population and has also brought to light the reason so many people are awaiting trial in jail. They are awaiting trial in jail, more often than not, because they cannot afford to pay bail to be released. While the pandemic, like all disasters, effects people of color and low income disproportionately, it has also shed a light on the inequity of the bail system and caused people to wonder if those in the nation's jails and prisons deserve to risk dying from the virus.
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  2020-06-09

  City Officials Scramble to Prepare as Mass Protests Threaten a Resurgence of COVID-19

  Excerpt from Article: State and local public health officials are in a tough spot. After months of imposing restrictions to protect their residents from the highly infectious coronavirus—at great cost to families’ livelihoods and the broader economy—they now must balance those efforts with another, equally vital imperative: protecting Americans’ right to gather en masse to protest police brutality and systemic racism.
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  2020-06-22

  John Oliver on prisons during Covid-19: 'That's not justice, that's neglect'

  Late night host, John Oliver, of HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," recently dedicated the main portion of his thirty minute show to highlighting the struggle of America's inmates with the covid-19 pandemic. This article provides the highlights of the show including a lack of soap, the number of non-inmate personal who are ill, covid being introduced to new facilities through prison transfer, people who have yet to be convicted but stuck in jail because they cannot afford cash bail, and the use of solitary confinement as punishment for one inmate who shared a video on Facebook.
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  2020-05-01

  I Do Not Want to Die in Here, Letters from the Houston Jail

  The architecture and structure of US prisons and jails make it impossible follow any of the guidelines given to slow the spread of the corona virus. Some argue it is prudent to release nonviolent offenders or those nearing the end of their sentences in an effort to provide more space within the facilities. Others oppose this idea citing fear of public safety. Inmates and their advocates worry that a prison sentence could turn into a death sentence. What about persons who have yet to even stand trial? While many people are not aware in the difference between a prison and a jail the distinction is very important. Jails hold people awaiting trial that could not afford bail while prisons are where people convicted of crimes serve their sentence. To be fair there are a small number of people in jails serving their sentence because it is short. With covid looming the question has become is it fair to keep people in jail where they have no defense against a deadly virus? This article discusses this issue and provides excerpts from letters written by inmates at the Harris County Jail in downtown Houston, TX.