what's going on?
California’s prison industry is a humanitarian CRISIS — true long before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. and while this Coronavirus has claimed nearly 127,000 lives across the country, it has at the same time shined a brighter light on California's inhumane treatment of our incarcerated population.
the pandemic has also re-centered our gaze on the brutal fatality of our nation's healthcare industry, which creates profits for corporate entities (pharmaceutical and insurance companies, etc.) and their political partners — at the expense of American lives. [remember when those senators dumped stocks before Coronavirus really hit the states?!]
well, I guess there's nothing more American than being able to mobilize law enforcement and military at the Tweet of a piece of trash but not being able to provide funding or eqiupment to hospitals, not even during a pandemic.
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you may have read reports stating that COVID-19 was first detected in California as early as February of this year, when a 57 year-old woman from San Jose became the first person in our country known to die from the virus. in April, Dr. Sarah Cody, the Santa Clara Health Director, stated she believes that this strain could've been present in the San Francisco Bay Area as early as January!
since late February-early March, the state of California has taken steps toward protecting public health; for example Governor Gavin Newsom issued stay-at-home orders, the state provided access to testing and mandated protocols like social distancing and wearing face masks in public...
but some Californians have been left out of the conversation about COVID: the hundreds of thousands of Californians currently held and incarcerated by state, city, county and juvenile facilities.
what does the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) disclose about the current status of COVID-19 within their system?
as of June 24, 2020, the CDCR reports that they surveil/control 175,449 individuals. they also claim to have seen 4,606 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the state incarcerated population so far. according to their own COVID-19 Tracking website, there have been:
2,357 confirmed current active cases
92 confirmed patients released from custody while COVID active
2,133 confirmed cases that have been "resolved"
21 confirmed deaths
in addition, among CDCR staff, there have been 735 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 391 active cases, and 344 employees with "resolved cases" who have already returned to their jobs by now.
the state-run facilities most notably hit by COVID-19 right now include: San Quentin (SQ), California Institution for Men (CIM), Avenal State Prison (ASP), California Institution for Women (CIW), and California State Prison Los Angeles (LAC).
the CDCR maintains a total incarcerated population of 175,449 individuals.
with 4,603 cases of COVID-19 amongst the CDCR's incarcerated population,
this puts the CDCR's infection rate at
2,624 cases per 100,000 persons!
according to June 25 figures, the state average is around 134.6 cases per 100,000 persons.
putting that into perspective...
I feel that if the imprisoned population of California were its own county (or even its own country), its rate of infection would be considered a crisis with global significance. but, because of a cultural bias against incarcerated peoples, the infection rate is not readily entered into mainstream conversations about the pandemic.
for comparison, Marin County (just north of the city of San Francisco) is normally known for its pricey real estate, beautiful coastal landscapes and *checks my notes* segregation... anyways, Marin is home to barely 260,000 people, but is making headlines with a COVID infection rate of 200 cases per 100,000 persons. so, what's going on?
one explanation can be found at Marin County's own San Quentin State Prison, which currently holds 600+ incarcerated patients with active COVID-19 cases. this affects the county's overall infection rate — in many ways! (also, wealthy people are generally cold and unfeeling, and currently expect everyone to go back to work to "save the economy"! 🙄 so maybe that is part of Marin's problem; countywide, their hotspots have been locations like Whole Foods and other major retailers that treat their employees like trash!)
meanwhile, in Southern California, Los Angeles County is reporting 220 confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 persons. in contrast to Marin County, LA County has a population around 10 million. and it's also home to the largest county jail system in the entire United States, with an average daily population of 17,000 incarcerated persons. Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) is the largest Sheriff's Department in the world, with around 18,000 on staff.
speaking of which, the LASD has disclosed some info about how their system is being affected by COVID-19. some highlights from their reporting:
they've had 439 personnel confirmed COVID-19 positive, with 2,358 "impacted personnel" overall "since inception";
they've recorded 2,582 incarcerated folks confirmed COVID-19 positive.
jails and prison across California are known for poor-quality healthcare provided to incarcerated people. we're familiar with the lack of self-motivated transparency from county sheriff's departments, city police, and the state (CDCR). miniature, police-approved reforms will never satisfy our calls for change.
what is the state doing to stop spread of COVID-19 amongst the prison population?
*crickets*
here a link to the official CDCR page explaining their response to COVID. some examples of their "approach" include:
the "Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) is holding parole suitability hearings via video and telephone conference through July 22, 2020 ... beginning April 13, consistent with Governor Gavin Newsom’s March 24 Executive Order."
California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) has started using labor from imprisoned folks to mass-produce: a) two types of hand sanitizer to be used in cleaning by CDCR and other state agencies; and also b) cloth barrier masks for use by incarcerated people and prison staff (CDCR boasts their inmates are now making 20,000 masks daily).
they disclose that they are now using the masks and sanitizer products manufactured by imprisoned people's labor.
they've suspended non-urgent dental care
both CDCR and California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) are actively hiring more of its "peace officers," but now it's more of an online and over-the-phone process rather than in-person.
so there's that... and, then there's the transfers. for example, as a solution to San Quentin State Prison's rising numbers of confirmed COVID cases, the CDCR elected to transfer some 150 inmates to North Kern State Prison, "to create more space to facilitate physical distancing, quarantine, and health care treatment efforts."
but, relocating incarcerated individuals with confirmed active cases of COVID-19 has already shown to spread the virus rather than suppress it. for evidence of this, we can look to the CDCR's own attempts at this. according to a June 26 article from the Los Angeles Times,
"State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said in a statement this week that the outbreak at San Quentin occurred after 121 inmates were transferred from the California Institution for Men in Chino late last month, none of whom had been tested up to a month prior to the transfer."
so let's put this together. the CDCR transfers 700+ of their prisoners who'd been deemed "vulnerable" from CIM-Chino. an outbreak occurs at San Quentin, following an intake of 121 individuals from Chino who weren't tested for COVID-19... and now, to address that outbreak of now 550+ cases at San Quentin, the CDCR proposes relocating an additional 150 inmates to North Kern State Prison, who are to be "quarantined ... upon their arrival. ?! 🤔
thankfully, yesterday the CDCR announced it has halted this particular transfer and said it will no longer take place.
last, Governor Newsom has granted dozens of pardons and commutations to work toward releasing several incarcerated persons from state facilities and programs. the Governor has done granted clemency in times before COVID, but to read more about these moves from the Governor's office, go here.
who is fighting to advocate for the health of our incarcerated population?
lawyers —
in March, back when just ONE incarcerated individual and a handful of CDCR staff had tested positive for COVID-19, a collection of lawyers for California prisoners presented a case to a federal court requesting an emergency order that would immediately activate releases from the state's overcrowded carceral system. since then, an additional 4,326 individuals incarcerated by our state prisons have contracted Coronavirus. one of these lawyers who is known for his advocacy in this field is Michael Bien, based in the Bay Area.
this group of lawyers made note of the fact that around 65,000 employees go in and out of prisons each day, simply self-disclosing to one another if they have symptoms or have been in contact with someone with COVID-19. the lawyers also suggested that approximately 17,000 state prisoners are "designated medically high risk," and thus deserve protection against Coronavirus and all other infections.
unsurprisingly, the court's panel of three judges denied the lawyers' motion in an order filed April 4, claiming they (the judges) lacked authority to grant the request...
organizations —
there are so many nonprofits and grassroots organizations statewide who've been keeping the CDCR transparent and accountable, as well as keeping the public informed about the way COVID-19 is affecting our incarcerated community members. some examples include:
Re:Store Justice is a non-profit advocating founded by Adnan Khan (formerly incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison), as well as Alexandra Mallick, and Sara Sindija, and it focuses on restorative and transformative justice programs to reduce recidivism and focus on addressing and reducing harm
Anti-Police Terror Project is an Oakland-based organization focused on combating the violence enacted, specifically by Oakland Police Department and the Alameda County Sheriffs Department (they also have a Sacramento chapter)
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights organize "with Black, Brown and low-income people to shift resources away from prisons and punishment, and towards opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong."
it is vital to support groups like these at this time! they not only provide a bridge between the outside world and the inner workings of the prison system, but they also advocate on behalf of incarcerated people and their loved ones. feel free to shout out one of *your* favorite org's in the comments here or on instagram. ✊🏽
nationwide reporting —
on a national level, many individuals and groups have been organizing to call attention to the havoc COVID is wreaking within our country's prison system! many who bring public attention to this issue are journalists. The Appeal is a news publisher that focuses its journalistic and research lens on the U.S. criminal justice system. this quote is from The Appeal's daily reporting feed on "Coronavirus in Jails and Prisons":
"weeks before the first reported cases of COVID-19 in prisons and jails, correctional healthcare experts warned that all the worst aspects of the U.S. criminal justice system—overcrowded, aging facilities lacking sanitary conditions and where medical care is, at best, sparse; too many older prisoners with underlying illnesses; regular flow of staff, guards, healthcare workers in and out of facilities — would leave detention facilities, and their surrounding communities, vulnerable to outbreaks." - Kelly Davis, The Appeal
overall, it's been expert physicians, human rights lawyers, scholars, journalists and loved ones who've been coming together to protest, petition, and organize on behalf of the health and human rights of imprisoned Americans. we must all do our part to keep "our"-selves safe, and our imprisoned population is absolutely a part of "our" society.
some people might feel it's important to keep our incarcerated population safe from COVID in order to protect the Californians who are not incarcerated. I believe that limiting your concern only to non-incarcerated individuals' health perpetuates the racist, classist beliefs Americans harbor toward imprisoned people! incarcerated folks have been viewed as inherently sub-human for too long.
protecting everyone's health
physically moving people from one place to another during this pandemic has proven to be an effective means of spreading COVID-19. transferring incarcerated persons from one detention facilitiy to another doesn't seem like a reasonable or sustainable strategy for minimizing harm from the Coronavirus. abolition means working toward a United States that has no prison industry to speak of. and so we must call for closing prisons in a way that demands protecting incarcerated peoples and their loved ones from COVID infection!
back in March, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told Los Angeles Times, that across the county, arrests "dropped from a daily average of 300 to 60, while the jail population was reduced by more than 600 inmates." the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has also reported that: "through the suspension of county jail intake, as well as the expedited parole of approximately 3,500 incarcerated persons in April, CDCR has reduced the incarcerated population by more than 8,000 since mid-March."
but since then, in response to recent mass protests against police murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the LAPD, LA County Sheriff, state police and multiple other law enforcement agencies have descended upon Los Angeles County and have made hundreds of arrests! this — like everything the police do — goes against "protecting and serving" their community.
and so even though people do not want to be paying money into this carceral complex, lots of us are continuing to donate $ to bail funds and local organizations focused on freeing people from overcrowded city and county jails. of course, we keep in mind that we need to eradicate this very system that lets rich people pay their way out of being held responsible for their actions, and relegates everyone else to imprisonment and forced labor.
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we should never trust state and local agencies to do the right thing when it comes to California's prison industrial complex and the country's for-profit healthcare industry. it's up to us as Californians to fight for justice with whatever tools we have! thank you for reading. please consider contributing to any of the organizations listed above. 🖤
[note: since publishing this, the number of confirmed COVID cases has increased severely. just in San Quentin alone, the CDCR (as of Tuesday June 30) reports 1,080 active cases. please join me and follow hashtag #StopSanQuentinOutbreak to keep updated, repost information and find ways to help. also please view this Toolkit on Google Docs for actions to take to #StopSanQuentinOutbreak]
additional resources:
No April Fool's Joke: COVID-19's a Danger to Inmates - Sacramento County deputy public defender tested positive for COVID
Lassen prison faces COVID-19 outbreak, blaming origin on San Quentin transfers