Corrections & COVID: An Ugly Mix

As if managing a jail or prison isn’t sufficiently challenging enough, last year an ugly little thing we came to know as COVID-19 was added into the mix. Suddenly, the already overcrowded corrections systems became even more crowded because of all the additional space necessary to provide for social distancing. Time, already at a premium, became of even greater value because of added duties for sanitization and cleaning. Several states made it into the prime time news cycle because they released thousands of convicted criminals well before those convicts had served anything close to their sentence. It boggles the mind when considering the balance of public safety against the health concerns of thousands of criminals and the choice is to release the criminals. After all, if they aren’t safe sequestered in a prison cell, how can they be safe added to the mix of general population in the outside world? That aside…

In jails and prisons, there are already strict access controls for virtually every space inside the outermost secure perimeter. To move from the outermost secure area to the innermost secure area requires passing through any number of locked gates/doors, searches and authorization checks. Prior to COVID rearing its ugly head, people could wait in line without concern for distancing. Prisoners, with awareness of potential conflicts, could be lined up much closer than six feet from each other. Then COVID came along.

Suddenly, the number of prisoners that could wait in a line in any given space was limited to roughly 25% of what could be there before. Visitors to the jails and prisons had to have secured and social distanced waiting areas (where visiting was permitted at all). The number of prisoners that could be allowed into an exercise yard was limited based on the square footage of the yard. Largely, it was decided to reduce the number of prisoners in a jail or prison rather than attempting to juggle the logistics of space management when the space available, already overcrowded, was suddenly on 25% (approximately) of what was needed due to COVID.

As it did for virtually every other space humans occupy in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued guidance and recommendations for how to minimize the impact of COVID within corrections facilities. The guidance covered everything from distancing to housing to meal delivery, prisoner hygiene and more. The challenge that had to be addressed was the gap between the knowledge of the CDC on viruses and managing the spread and the knowledge of the CDC on managing incarcerated individuals. Prisoners are notoriously creative and there is always that percentage of them that care nothing about rules or controls beyond how they will be further punished for disobeying them.

The big question, and one we can only attempt to answer in this article, is: What will happen when a large enough majority of the incarcerated population has been vaccinated and capacities in prison can return to “normal?”

In many states the court systems have been operating at limited capacity—or hearing no cases at all in some cases. When society as a whole begins to function “normally” again, the case load for courts is going to be overwhelming. The number of people being sentenced to prison may be slightly reduced as judges maintain awareness of virus concerns within corrections facilities. Still, there will be people being sentenced and delivered into corrections facilities. Those people, unless there is documentation of a vaccination for them, will need to be quarantined—likely for two weeks—in a secure and separate space of the facility. Once their quarantine period as passed and they can be moved into general population, the facility’s controlled population will once again begin to grow.

This eventuality will be easier to manage if it’s planned for well in advance and the various necessary secure areas set up in advance. While they probably already exist, they may well need expansion and renovation. Of course, there won’t be much (if any) budget to do such so once again the facility will have to adjust “on the fly” without sacrificing any measure of security or containment.

While health records for every prisoner have always been kept, a permanent piece that will be newly required is the COVID vaccination. Which one has the prisoner had if any? Was it a two-dose vaccine and have they had both? How long before incarceration? Do they have any comorbidities or health concerns that make them higher risk of serious illness or death from COVID? How old are they? What allergies do they have? If they haven’t had the vaccine, is a negative test sufficient to put them into general population? Or can that only be done if they test negative AND get a vaccine upon incarceration? And even then, after how long of a time?

County jails will obviously have to deal with these situations as best they can given limited space, often limited manpower and sometimes greater oversight from bureaucrats. State and federal prisons may have an easier time of it just based on pure square footage available. The larger entities may (usually) have a larger pool of manpower they can juggle and move around to adjust to changing prisoner populations.

Intake points, at all levels, need to be examined and updated as necessary. This has likely already occurred but if your facility hasn’t, make it a priority. Minimizing the intake of COVID-positive individuals is your best defense against the spread of the virus within your facility. Insuring that only your healthiest and vaccinated guards/personnel handle or manage prisoners should be a priority as well. Stubborn prisoners who are non-compliant with health mandates such as social distancing and masks should be restricted in privileges and space available. Of course, the mask also adds another layer of concern as far as what can be hidden and where.

While every corrections facility has, in the past year, been forced to adapt to the existence of COVID-19 and how it has impacted operations, the reality is that it’s not going away and managing the risk of it is a new layer of protocol that should become permanent in your standard operating procedures. If you haven’t already taken the necessary steps to build that into all your operations moving forward, you’re far behind the curve.

The CDC has a page dedicated to Corrections and Jail operations: https://bit.ly/3cVVNcb