Megan Wilson op-ed in the Michigan Daily: “COVID in Custody–One Year into the Failed Pandemic Response in Michigan’s Prisons” (March 25, 2021)
In the year since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Michigan, 63% of Michigan’s prison population has tested positive for the virus and 139 people have died. In total, more than 25,900 incarcerated people and 3,800 corrections staff have tested positive. Incarcerated people are routinely exposed to illness and unable to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance in cramped, shared spaces. Sanitation and ventilation are inadequate, and quarantine practices have been lackadaisical. Additionally, visitation to all Michigan prisons has been suspended since March 13, 2020.
Advocates have been urging the Michigan Department of Corrections to take meaningful action to contain the virus since the pandemic began. A white paper published last summer by researchers from the American Friends Service Committee and the University of Michigan, of which I was a co-author, detailed the dire conditions. Nearly 300 pages of prisoner letters showed example after example of horrifying conditions of facilities compromising their safety day to day.
A year later, not much has changed. Cases surged again in November, and Michigan now ranks first in the nation in COVID-19 cases per 10,000 prisoners.
Read the full article here
