Views on COVID-19 from Inside Prison: Perspectives of High-security Prisoners

Pyrooz, David C.; Labrecque, Ryan M.; Tostlebe, Jennifer J.; Useem, Bert

doi:10.1080/24751979.2020.1777578

Cited by 39 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…As such, the analysis reflects information provided in a public-facing context and may not necessarily reflect the reality of day-to-day life in certain prisons or the perspectives of those living and working in these facilities. This underscores the need for continued research that includes the perspectives of those embedded within facilities, as offered initially by Pyrooz et al (2020). Lastly, despite the many adults incarcerated in U.S. jails, the current research did not include any information on jail-based responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In addition, largely missing from the research on COVID-19 in correctional facilities are the perspectives of residents confined in prisons and jails. However, Pyrooz et al (2020) offer an initial qualitative assessment of the challenges of COVID-19 in correctional facilities, based on interviews with a sample of 31 men incarcerated in a maximum security prison in Oregon. The findings demonstrate that prisoners perceive their risk of contracting COVID-19 "not as a matter of if, but rather as a matter of when," the virus will spread throughout the prison system (Pyrooz et al, 2020, p. 8).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Institutional Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in American Prisons

Novisky

Narvey

Semenza

2020

Victims & Offenders

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The COVID-19 pandemic infiltrated the United States in early 2020, with correctional facilities becoming hot spots for the novel coronavirus shortly thereafter. Using data gathered from Departments of Corrections' official websites, we provide a summary of state and federal prison system responses to COVID-19 as of June 2020. We highlight strengths and deficiencies in system responses as well as pertinent variations across jurisdictions. We conclude with a call for scholars and grant funders to prioritize incarceration-based data collection efforts on COVID-19 so the short and long-term consequences of the pandemic, and systemic responses to it, can be more fully assessed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in American Prisons

Novisky

Narvey

Semenza

2020

Victims & Offenders

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, David Pyrooz and colleagues conducted a study, in April and May of 2020, interviewing a random sample of thirty‐one prisoners in high‐security segregation settings about their perceptions of the risks of Covid‐19 for prisoners. Pyrooz and colleagues concluded that “prisoners were not highly worried about contracting the disease.” 29 As of early March 2021, no other systematic studies have evaluated prisoners’ fears of Covid‐19. But first‐person accounts and news reports suggest this initial study, although made up of a random sample of participants, is far from representative of incarcerated peoples’ experiences of the pandemic 30 .…”

Section: Unjustifiable Typologies Of Ethical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does a Public Health Crisis Justify More Research with Incarcerated People?

Reiter¹

2021

Hastings Center Report

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Covid‐19 has infected thousands and killed hundreds in prisons, jails, and immigration detention facilities across the United States. Responding to this crisis, leading medical researchers have called for expanding opportunities for people in prison to participate in vaccine trials. These calls, like current regulations, focus on individualized risk assessments around consent, coercion, and harm, while ignoring the unnaturalness of deprivation conditions in U.S. prisons. We need new frameworks of analysis that refocus on structural, rather than individual, risk assessments. Integrating structural perspectives—including skepticism of claims of scarcity, avoidance of representational distortions, and attention to institutional agency—into our existing, overly individualistic frameworks might permit the design of more ethical research projects involving people who are incarcerated. Still, the unnatural deprivations of incarceration might be so great that research subjects might need to be removed from prison entirely in order to ethically participate in research.

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“…Correctional authorities should provide custodial populations with information about the institution's response to COVID-19 as this might alleviate their anxiety about contracting the virus (Pyrooz et al, 2020). Additionally, correctional authorities should reassure individuals in custody that they will have opportunities to maintain connections with their loved ones to support their psychological and emotional well-being during the pandemic (WHO, 2020).…”

Section: Provide Incarcerated Populations With Ongoing Information Abmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future research should examine this stigma for correctional and health-care personnel alike. Further, research should examine how personnel and individuals in custody perceive their own risks and the institutional responses put in place (see e.g., Pyrooz et al, 2020). How do individuals in custody, who have limited autonomy in correctional environments, cope with the stressors associated with the virus and BC Corrections' response?…”

Section: Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

British Columbia Provincial Corrections’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Correctional Policy and Practice

Murdoch

2020

Victims & Offenders

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Health and justice officials across North America have described correctional institutions as petri dishes for the transmission of COVID-19. Individuals in custody commonly have health profiles that are more compromised than those of the general population. Institutional infrastructure issues and custody counts that create barriers to protocols, including physical distancing measures, that health authorities recommend to limit the spread of the virus compound these profiles. Many correctional authorities have struggled to implement strategies to mitigate infection rates among custodial populations. This paper examines the strategies employed by one provincial correctional authority in Canada that has to date successfully prevented the spread of COVID-19 in custody centers by adopting a health-informed approach to the crisis rather than a traditional justice-informed response. The findings highlight practices that can inform the responses of other jurisdictions as the pandemic continues and identify areas of future research on the effects of COVID-19 on incarcerated persons, correctional and health-care staff, and communities.

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Views on COVID-19 from Inside Prison: Perspectives of High-security Prisoners

Cited by 39 publications

References 21 publications

Institutional Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in American Prisons

Institutional Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in American Prisons

Does a Public Health Crisis Justify More Research with Incarcerated People?

British Columbia Provincial Corrections’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Correctional Policy and Practice

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