News
Not for you: Unclear how Colorado inmates will receive access to a COVID-19 vaccine after the governor removed them from high priority in an earlier plan. Colorado Newsline (Dec. 21, 2020)
Bullshit rubber-stamps: Elizabeth Warren’s 19-month investigation of the prison accreditation organization (American Correctional Association or ACA) found it to be seriously lacking in oversight of America’s jails and prisons. Mother Jones (Dec. 14, 2020)
A review of available evidence suggests that accreditation has little to no correlation with detention facility conditions and practices, and therefore little to no value whatsoever,” the report states. “The result has been the rubber-stamping of dangerous facilities and the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars.”
Left in the dark: Families were not notified while their loved ones in prison were hospitalized with COVID-19. Injustice Watch (Dec. 17, 2020)
Like wildfire: One in FIVE prisoners has had COVID-19, four times higher than the normal population. The Marshall Project (Dec. 18, 2020)
Deadly work: An investigation in COVID-19’s spread in Texas prison shows a late response and dead guards. WFAA (Dec. 13, 2020)
Flying drugs & chicken wings: In Mississippi, people tossed pounds of weed and BBQ chicken wings over the prison fence before it was confiscated. WLBT (Dec. 8, 2020)
Anonymous: The lack of identifiable officers has blocked police accountability over their responses to the George Floyd protests in June. Colorado Newsline (Dec. 16, 2020)
Burn baby burn: Prisoners set fires to protest COVID-19 conditions that left them hungry and isolated. An investigation found that the prisons have ignored fire safety requirements leaving over 200 Texas prison without working fire alarm systems. The Marshall Project (Dec. 13, 2020)
Alone: Women are punished for their trauma with solitary confinement, writes an incarcerated woman. Truthout (Dec. 12, 2020)
Essential: Some prisoners are essential workers inside. Will they be prioritized for the vaccine? The News Station (Dec. 18, 2020)
COVID-19 resources: State policy changes. News. Bureau of Prisons updates. State court changes. Prison holistic self care and protection.
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