COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire inside America's state and federal prisons, with an infection rate that is more than four times as high as the general population, according to data collected by The Associated Press and The Marshall Project.
The data analysis found that one in every five prisoners, or 276,000, have already been infected in the U.S., compared with a nationwide infection rate of about 5%. The virus has also killed at least 1,700 prisoners since the onset of the pandemic and its spread inside correctional facilities is actually accelerating despite repeated warnings by experts and activists.
"I still encounter prisons and jails where, when people get sick, not only are they not tested but they don't receive care. So they get much sicker than need be," said Homer Venters, the former chief medical officer at Rikers Island.
New prison infections reached their highest level this week, far outpacing previous peaks in April and early August. California led the latest surge with nearly 6,000 new cases while the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed more than 3,000 new infections inside its facilities.
© Ross D. FranklinA fence surrounds the Maricopa County Estrella Jail in Phoenix.
A fence surrounds the Maricopa County Estrella Jail in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin/)
The situation is so out of control that some states have seen more than half of their prisoners test positive since the pandemic began. The three states with the highest infection rates are South Dakota, Arkansas and Kansas.
A former Kansas prisoner who was recently freed from Lansing Correctional Facility said he had to share an open dorm with more than 100 infected inmates and ended up getting infected as well.
"It was like I was sentenced to death," Donte Westmoreland, who was serving time on a marijuana charge, told the AP.
"People are actually dying in front of me off of this virus," he said. "It's the scariest sight."
N.Y. prisons see over 2,000 COVID-19 cases amid calls for greater transparency over coronavirus testing data
Despite the alarming numbers reviewed by the AP and The Marshalls Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the criminal justice system, experts warn that infection rates inside America's prisons are likely much higher because of a lack of testing in the beginning of the pandemic.
Prisoners might also be one of the last population groups to get vaccinated. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis told reporters earlier this month that "there's no way" prisoners will get a COVID-19 shot "before it goes to the people who haven't committed any crime."
With News Wire Services