California’s Racial Justice Crisis is COVID-19 in Prisons
The recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have mobilized people across the country to fight for racial justice. There are calls for action, for not passively allowing Black and Brown people to die from racism and a broken police and criminal justice system. The current COVID-19 crisis that is rapidly unfolding in California’s prisons, killing prisoners and officers, needs to be part of these racial justice mobilization efforts.
Concurrent to the pain and protests consuming the country, the number of COVID-19 infections in California prisons is quickly increasing. Of the 35 state facilities, three prisons — Chuckawalla Valley, Avenal, and Chino — are currently grappling with large outbreaks. In Chuckawalla Valley State Prison, approximately 45% of all prisoners incarcerated have tested positive for COVID-19. As of this writing, there are over 3,000 total cases, including nearly 2,500 who are currently in custody. This corresponds to an infection rate of about 26 per 1,000 inmates or about 650 percent higher than California overall. Fifteen prisoners and two employees have died. These numbers do not include infections and deaths of people in California jails. Given the recent spike in infections, the death toll is going to rise quickly.
This is a racial justice crisis. Prisons are a last stop along a path of unequal educational systems, racially discriminatory labor markets, and aggressive policing tactics. As we describe in a recent study, Black-White disparities in arrest rates are only compounded by the time people reach later criminal justice stages, such as incarceration. Nationally, Black people are incarcerated in state prisons at five times the rate of White people. In California, Black adults are incarcerated at rates that are higher than any other state, with 12% having ever been to prison.
This is a public health crisis. Prisons are even more vulnerable to COVID-19 than nursing homes and hospitals, as shown by the extremely high infection rates in some prisons nationally (for example, 80% of all prisoners at Marion Correctional Facility in Ohio are infected). Prisoners in California have high rates of underlying health conditions that are risks for COVID-19, like hypertension and obesity. These conditions, disproportionately affecting Black prisoners, are both caused and exacerbated by the conditions of confinement. And, prisons in California are over capacity, for example by 130% in Chuckawalla State Prison and 142% in Avenal, making it extraordinarily difficult to implement any social distancing measures. Furthermore, prisons are under-resourced: employees inside these facilities have expressed concerns about shortages of basic cleaning supplies and PPE, in addition to officers and staff being overworked and under extraordinary stress.
This is a community crisis. There is a moral imperative to take care of our fellow human beings, especially those who are hurting, who are captive, and who are in need. People in prisons are mothers and fathers. They are sons, daughters, and siblings. They have families who are worried and angry. And, as we have recently warned, prisons are not physically isolated facilities, and COVID-19 outbreaks will spread to California towns and cities through the officers and employees who travel to and from work every day.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), researchers, law centers, and others are working hard to address this emergency. But, we need to sound the alarm bells, mobilize resources, and demand the political attention to pursue innovative and radical solutions to save lives. At a minimum, prisons need resources to protect against infection, to test broadly, to trace the spread, to protect the medically vulnerable, and to undertake these efforts without causing more harm and infection. California prisons, like jails, must also release more people to reduce capacity, including through compassionate release, and to make room for the additional beds needed for safe quarantining of suspected cases. As a racial justice crisis and a public health emergency, we need diverse stakeholders — including community representatives, doctors, and public health professionals — at the decision-making table. This is a critical moment. Contact your state senators and write to Gavin Newsom to urge immediate action to prevent any more unnecessary COVID-19 infections and deaths in California prisons.
Written by Naomi Sugie, Kristin Turney, and Keramet Reiter, professors at the University of California, Irvine
