Incarceration And COVID-19: The Authors Reply

Association of Jail Decarceration and Anticontagion Policies With COVID-19 Case Growth Rates in US Counties

“… 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 In some cases, policy decisions have drawn on international studies that may not accurately reflect distinctive biosocial dynamics shaping epidemiologic characteristics in the US. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 Furthermore, some proposed anticontagion measures, such as reducing jail populations and the associated cycling of detainees through crowded carceral facilities that appear to pose high risks for SARS-CoV-2 spread in communities, 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 are currently understood only through computer simulations and require further evaluation with empirical evidence. 20 …”

“…Although widely neglected by policy makers both domestically and internationally, jails and prisons are sites of major epidemiologic importance for public health, pandemic preparedness, and biosecurity. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 As of September 1, 2020, despite inadequate testing and reporting in many jails and prisons, these facilities represented 90 of the top 100 COVID-19 clusters in the US. 21 Incarcerated individuals have faced 5.5 times higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than those in the general US population and, after adjusting for age, sex, and race/ethnicity, 3 times the COVID-19 mortality rate.…”

“…COVID-19 outbreaks in jails, prisons, and immigrant detention facilities do not only pose risks to incarcerated people, they also appear to spread to surrounding communities. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 This carries particularly pronounced consequences for Black and Latinx communities that are subjected to disproportionately high rates of arrest and incarceration, which may partially explain the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 that has been borne by racialized groups in the US. 18 …”

“…Carceral-community epidemiologic relationships, that is, connections between carceral conditions and disease spread in broader communities, have long been observed worldwide in relation to, for example, HIV, tuberculosis, influenza, and viral hepatitis. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 To date, however, only 2 modeling studies, 20 , 33 2 peer-reviewed studies of empirical evidence limited to Illinois, 17 , 18 and 1 non–peer-reviewed empirical analysis 34 have specifically examined the association between carceral institutions and community spread of SARS-CoV-2. Although there is a growing body of empirical literature on the consequences of mass incarceration on community health, 17 , 18 , 31 , 35 , 36 to our knowledge, no study has yet evaluated the effects of decarceration on population-level community health outcomes, either in relation to COVID-19 or otherwise.…”

“…The US jail population, 75% of which is composed of pretrial detainees and 25% of individuals sentenced to less than 1 year for minor offenses, 37 is in constant biosocial interrelation with surrounding communities. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 35 , 36 …”