featured collection
Winter Surge
Similar to communities across the country, carceral facilities experienced COVID-19 outbreaks during Winter 2020-2021.
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Vaccines
Due to a history of medical negligence, the vaccination process in carceral facilities can be a controversial subject. Hear incarcerated people describe a wide range of thoughts on vaccine distribution.
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Visitation
COVID-19 shut down visitation across prisons. Incarcerated people went more than a year without seeing their loved ones.
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Disregard of Safety
The impossibility of social distancing, the overall unsanitary conditions, a lack of PPE, and negligence on behalf of correctional officers are some of the many reasons safety was compromised in facilities.
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Coping
The pandemic brought lockdowns, limited programming, and restrictions on visitations, which tested people’s coping abilities.
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Helplessness
During this unprecedented time of crisis, incarcerated people and their loved ones describe feeling powerless.
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Forced to Work
Many incarcerated people felt compelled to work in unsafe jobs during the COVID-19 outbreaks.
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Early Lockdowns
As communities enforced social distancing measures in early 2020, carceral facilities shut down visitation, eliminated rehabilitative programs, and enacted other measures designed to prevent outbreaks.
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Socially (Un)Distant
One of the primary means of preventing COVID-19, as recommended by the CDC, is social distancing. Social distancing is impossible in prison, where overcrowding is rampant, protective equipment is scarce, and infection rates are five times as high as in the general population.
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(In)access to Outdoors
This collection highlights people’s inability to leave their cells, or go outside at all during pandemic lockdowns. Having no access to the outside environment means more than a lack of fresh air or an inability to see the sky; it means lost contact with friends and family through limited phone access; it means lack of access to healthcare.
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Underlying Health Issues
Incarcerated individuals are more susceptible to infectious diseases due to inadequate access to care prior to incarceration, unsanitary and overcrowded conditions during incarceration, and poor access to health-care services in prison. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these vulnerabilities.
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