While the outside pandemic situation seems to be taken under control, the U.S. jails have been constantly overshadowed, which eventually lead to worsened pandemic situations in the Clark County Detention Center, Las Vegas Jails and throughout prisons everywhere. According to a Las Vegas Review-Jurnal article, the total number of positive Covid-19 cases in the Clark County Detention Center grew by around 37% since late June, with more than 92 sick inmates, 35 of which were still in custody. Results show an increase of 25 more cases in just 17 days, time in which limited visits were allowed to take place and although no direct contact was permitted, aftermath infections to visitors are believed to have happened.
As a reference point for the number of people inside the detention center daily, according to the metro’s annual report from 2019, an average of 3,700 people, excluding house arrests, were present inside the detention center on daily basis last year.
That said, there is a high risk of chain infections to take place and put inmates’ lives in danger. From the beginning of the pandemic in Nevada, the department along with federal authorities and other Vegas Jails strived to reduce the number of people detained and inhibit the virus’ spread. However, due to the anti-racism and police brutality violent protests in late May and June, the department was forced to take into custody hundreds of violent protesters.
Every new inmate is tested and quarantined at an ‘intake housing module’ for 10 days prior to placing him in the general population.
The department has publicly announced that they impose a strict policy on its employees to wear masks permanently and inmates to wear masks every time they leave their cell.
Rest of U.S. Jails
As for the rest of the U.S. jails and prisons, public health agents say that outbreaks in jails threaten not only the inmates but the nearby communities as well. There is little opportunity inside jail facilities for inmates to find enough space for social distancing, which combined with the lack of basic sanitary materials, does nothing but worsen the situation and increase the risk of chronic diseases.
Experts fear more aglomerated jail facilities, especially those who house inmates awaiting trial or people who serve short sentences expose a high risk of positive cases among visitors and others since those kinds of facilities tend to have the most people entering and leaving.
According to a recently published study by American Civil Liberties Union, it is estimated that community spread from coronavirus infections in jails could add up to 190,000 total positive cases to the virus’s U.S. death toll outside the prison walls.
The report shows how the nation’s 10 largest jail systems are estimated to have increased the number of deaths in the surrounding communities because of the lacking moderation efforts inside those jails. While the projected deaths in the jails average a number of 400 deaths, the death number in the nearby communities reach up to 4,000 in regions such as New York City and an average of 1,500 for the rest of the counties.
That said, projected death increases in those communities caused by jails average 60%, making jails a major threat for both inmates and the world outside those walls.
