Prisons and Jails: COVID Disaster Zones

May 27, 2020 by David Nitkin | Categories: Scenario Development and Testing | Tags: correctional services, Leadership, Social Justice

The Issue

It’s no accident that prisons and jails are toxic breeding grounds for COVID-19 transmission. Like nursing homes, abattoirs and emergency shelters, most correctional facilities are operated in this country by standards that ensure that they are probable breeding grounds for a pandemic. What can and should be changed, and what are the prospects for reform?

Ethical and Values Dimension

The prison population rate (per 100,000 people) is 107 in Canada and 655 in the United States. Prisons (longer term incarceration) and jails (typically transient facilities) are susceptible to rampant disease spread for a variety of reasons: close quarters, unsanitary conditions, subpar medical care, poor ventilation, and individuals in close, frequent contact. Over 40,000 and 2.13 million detainees, respectively, are behind bars in Canada and the United States, including those being held in detention centres, awaiting trial. The overwhelming majority are held in provincial or state and local facilities.

The crippling impact of incarceration is borne not only by inmates but also by their families, correctional service officers, health workers, host communities, and governments. COVID exacerbates a bad situation, further compounding the risks. Many residents are elderly, have underlying health conditions and are unable to self-isolate. Only a limited set of people from the “outside” can come in daily to provide care. Most facilities are poorly equipped to deal with an outbreak due to limited staff members, inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE), and a lack of medical and special needs infrastructure.

Confinement and social distancing are mostly incompatible. COVID-19 is already rapidly spreading in these confined settings which are poorly equipped to deal with a mass sickness. If infection is not addressed swiftly, many facilities could begin to resemble a “no go zone” humanitarian disaster. Advocates of prison reform identify the following problems:

The criminal justice system results in high levels of mass incarceration, especially for minorities, the mentally-challenged, the elderly, and the poor.
These facilities are generally not afforded special emergency assistance under our existing laws unless specific provisions are made.
A growing number of incarcerated individuals and prison workers test positive for coronavirus infection.
To date, the federal government has not made available emergency allowances or provision for isolated or separate incarceration facilities or the well-being of health care workers serving those facilities.
Many of the more than 10% of prison inmates are 55 years or older and have chronic or life-limiting illnesses. Approximately 15% report ever having asthma and 10% reported ever having a heart disorder—conditions that put detainees at high risk for severe illness with COVID-19.
Overcrowding and sanitation issues in many jail and prison settings are in stark contrast to the recommendations of public health officials for social distancing, frequent handwashing, and other practices for COVID-19 prevention.

Moral and Legal Dimensions

Prisons operate on moral values that include punishing wrongdoers, serving as a deterrent to others, and protecting law-abiding citizens. When viruses hit, the culture of prisons is often punitive. When someone gets sick, they get punished by being sent to solitary confinement. Once you get sent there, the strict rules and regulations that apply in there are the same, whether you’re there for disciplinary or health quarantine reasons.

Prisons and jails do not have ICUs or any of the medical facilities to deal with very sick people. This means that every single “normal” day, thousands of prisoners are brought out of prison to local hospitals or health care facilities. It’s impossible that staff not become infected. Their own families and their own communities are likely to experience serious outbreaks due to the spread of coronavirus outside of prisons and jails.

These concerns are global challenges. In 2019, there were more than 10 million men, women, and children in jails and prison, and such facilities are overcrowded in at least 121 countries. Space for social distancing typically is inadequate or nonexistent. Limited access to soap and water may make frequent handwashing impossible, and hand sanitizer may be off limits because of its high alcohol content. Inmates in some facilities must pay for their own soap and personal hygiene items and may be charged for medical visits that they may not be able to afford.

Addressing the situation is crucial because of the risks posed by COVID-19 impact not only incarcerated people but also the general population. Jails, which by their nature are transient facilities, have the potential to accelerate spread because of their enormous turnover, as people are locked up and then released again into the community. Thousands of people typically flow into and out of jails every week. Jails and prisons in Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, Germany, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have released prisoners early or are considering doing so.

Harm Reduction Versus Prevention

The harm reduction steps proposed by advocates seeking to mitigate coronavirus risk include:

Grant early release to older, medically vulnerable, or pregnant prisoners, as well as lower-level, non-violent offenders.
On a facility by facility basis, put inmates who are particularly at-risk of infection under quarantine (that is, confine them to their cells).
To “the extent practicable,” give inmates (even those under quarantine) access to programs and services that are normally offered, such as mental health and educational services, as well as access to communal areas (such as for showers and telephone and computer access).
Test frequently for infection, both among inmates and warders
Lease hotel rooms so homeless people released from jail don’t accelerate the pandemic.
Make it financially easier for those who are in jail solely because they are homeless, jobless, and cannot afford a fine to pay the cost of their release.
When designing new facilities, including pre-trial detention centres, address the fact that it is physically impossible to do six-foot distancing in a three-foot-wide facility tier.
Provide better training and bonuses for existing and new correctional officer recruits.

Guidelines released two months ago by the World Health Organization (WHO) outline measures that prisons and other detention facilities (such as immigration detention settings) should take. These guidelines include considering non-custodial measures at all stages of the criminal justice process as well as screening all individuals upon admission for fever and lower respiratory tract symptoms—and possibly medically isolating them pending further evaluation. “Efforts to control COVID-19 in the community are likely to fail if strong Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures, adequate testing, treatment and care are not carried out in prisons and other places of detention as well,” the guidelines note.

These remediation efforts are not a cure, as they only reduce risk. Systemic penology changes could include the following:

Close as many prison facilities as possible.
Integrate non-violent prison populations within the community.
Find alternative, voluntary community service options for those who have been arrested, charged with a misdemeanor, and are eligible for bail.
Drastically reduce the duration of punitive sentences, starting with multiple life sentences for one inmate, for crimes like armed robbery.
Divert seriously mentally and physically ill inmates to a more suitable hospital setting.

Conclusion

In ordinary times, we have the tendency to ignore what happens behind prison walls. There’s no such thing as a good time to be an inmate in the Canadian or U.S. prison system, or, for that matter, to be awaiting trial in a county jail. With COVID 19, however, it may also be that there’s never been a worse time than today.

David Nitkin, founder of EthicScan, is a full-time organizational ethicist. David’s original writing, teaching, consulting and research focuses upon ethical decision making; enhancing corporate accountability and reporting; and developing corporate ethics assurance programs, including transparency, risk management, integrity management, and safe partnering.

David has provided ethics training, advice and research for over 200 clients both internationally and in Canada who collectively employ over 750,000 employees. He consults and trains widely with a variety of clients, including corporations, industry associations, public service sector organizations (integrity commissions, human rights commissions, and anti-corruption tribunals social agencies, professional ethics certification organizations, not-for-profits; and civil society organizations.

The Issue

Ethical and Values Dimension

Moral and Legal Dimensions

Harm Reduction Versus Prevention

Conclusion

Further Reading