Items

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  2020-10-04

  Half of Folsom Prison Inmates Have Covid

  Nursing homes and prisons provide the perfect breading ground for coronavirus. For this reason the nation's correctional facilities have been hard hit by the virus. This Tweet, by James King, a formerly incarcerated man, draws attention to the continued spread of the virus within Folsom Prison in California. The news story King links to in his Tweet contains a video of Governor Gavin Newsom explaining the measures already taken to mediate the spread of the virus and upcoming plans. In the video Newsom mentions several things that alarmed me. 1. Numerous individuals with active Covid infections were released from California correctional facilities. Was this a wise decision? Or was it the smart decision that shows compassion for the individual. Prison is no place to suffer through a horrible illness. 2. When talking about releasing people from correctional facilities early he stresses these were individuals who are "non, non, non, non sex offenders". This sounds like they are only considering releasing those convicted of non-violent crimes, but isn't there a chance someone who has spent 20+ years in prison been reformed? Isn't that the point of incarceration, to reform the person? 3. There are individuals that meet the criteria laid out for early release but they have no where to go or no plan. In speaking with criminal justice reform advocates in California personally I was told there are numerous non-profit organizations ready to assist anyone that is released early.
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  2020-08-07

  Unlock the Box Campaign Tweets: Solitary By the Numbers

  Because correctional facilities are not built with social distancing in mind the facilities often rely on solitary confinement as a place to quarantine people. This was happening with other contagious disease before Covid but as this graphic shows the number of people being sent to solitary confinement for Covid quarantine is very high. It should also be noted that a person sent to solitary confinement for quarantine due to illness is treated no different than a person sent there for disciplinary action. Imagine having Covid and being locked in there with no medical attention.
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  2020-06-21

  'They Just Dumped Him Like Trash'

  An article describing the eviction of elderly residents from nursing homes to 'make room' for COVID-19 patients to generate more revenue.