Incarceration And Its Disseminations: COVID-19 Pandemic Lessons From Chicago’s Cook County Jail

Abstract

Jails and prisons are major sites of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Many jurisdictions in the United States have therefore accelerated the release of low-risk offenders. Early release, however, does not address how arrest and pretrial detention practices may be contributing to disease spread. Using data from Cook County Jail-one of the largest known nodes of SARS-CoV-2 spread in the United States-in Chicago, Illinois, we analyzed the relationship between jailing practices and community infections at the ZIP code level. We found that jailcommunity cycling was a significant predictor of cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), accounting for 55 percent of the variance in case rates across ZIP codes in Chicago and 37 percent of the variance in all of Illinois. Jail-community cycling far exceeds race, poverty, public transit use, and population density as a predictor of variance. The data suggest that cycling people through Cook County Jail alone is associated with 15.7 percent of all documented COVID-19 cases in Illinois and 15.9 percent of all documented cases in Chicago as of April 19, 2020. Our findings support arguments for reduced reliance on incarceration and for related justice reforms both as emergency measures during the present pandemic and as sustained structural changes vital for future pandemic preparedness and public health.

New pathogen, same disparities: why COVID‐19 and HIV remain prevalent in U.S. communities of colour and implications for ending the HIV epidemic

“…Because detention centres are more likely to be situated in communities of colour, they also contribute to health disparities via community spread of COVID‐19. A recent Chicago study linked community spread of COVID‐19 in Black communities to individuals passing through the county jail [56].…”

Institutional Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in American Prisons

“…Understanding differences in correctional responses is important. Beyond the substantial medical risks of COVID-19 infection in correctional facilities (Reinhart & Chen, 2020), experiences during incarceration can predict access to medical care and perceptions of the correctional health care system (Novisky, 2018). Health conditions are also related to the likelihood of successful reentry (Link et al, 2019;Semenza & Link, 2019).…”

The Global Impact of the Pandemic on Institutional and Community Corrections: Assessing Short-Term Crisis Management and Long-Term Change Strategies

“…Policy Recommendations Prisons and jails are not completely isolated, as staff and venders go to and from work daily and incarcerated people are frequently transferred between facilities. Preliminary analysis from Cook County Jail, IL shows that jail cycling was associated with 15.7% of documented cases in IL, exceeding other known predictors (e.g., population density and public transit utilization) (Reinhart & Chen, 2020). A simple stochastic susceptible exposedinfected-recovered model of COVID-19 disease spread in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers shows that under optimistic conditions outbreaks among a minimum of 65 ICE facilities would overwhelm ICU beds within a 10-mile radius (Irvine et al, 2020).…”