In January, 61-year-old Daniel Ruiz was imprisoned on a minor, nonviolent drug charge. Months later, he was set to be released on good behavior. Instead, more susceptible because of his age and asthma, Ruiz contracted the coronavirus and passed away in prison. Now his family is filing a claim against California's prison systems, saying Ruiz's death was wrongful and the incompetence of prison systems in the face of the pandemic is responsible. One of the family's lawyers, Attorney Michael Haddad, told KTVU that "the tragedy of this is that this could have been avoided if people like Mr. Ruiz were simply treated like human beings."
Ruiz is one of 59 Californian inmates who have died from the coronavirus, and 11,388 who have contracted it. Those numbers are even higher nationally, with 121,217 American inmates reporting cases. An outbreak at San Quentin, where Ruiz was imprisoned, caused 2,000 infections and 19 deaths alone, as reported by NPR and The Marshall Project. Many inmates were released to avoid infection, but less fortunate inmates continued to be held at prisons that quickly became hotspots.
The spread can largely be traced back to a lack of regular testing and the transferring of large groups of inmates to different prisons once the pandemic had already begun. Some Democratic politicians like Senator Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray and Cory Booker introduced legislation last month that would make jails across the country publicly report on the spread of coronavirus within the institutions. As of now, inmates are five times more likely to contract the coronavirus and three times more likely to die from it than the overall population. With little ability to social distance or having any control over where they go or who they interact with, the safety of inmates is at the whim of the institutions imprisoning them.
Questions
1. How could prisons have handled the spread of the coronavirus better?
2. Do you think our current prison system is set up fairly? How does it work and how does it not work?
3. What populations is the coronavirus hitting the hardest? How is this exemplified in people who are currently in our prison systems, contracting the disease?
3 comments:
The past few months have proved difficult for historically marginalized groups, low income communities, and prison inmates. As if working paycheck to paycheck wasn't already difficult, such groups have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. It seems that it is getting harder and harder for people to find a "way out,"and this has been made clear with way the prison system works. Rather than rehabilitating and reintegrating inmates back into society, the prison system punishes them, subjecting them to an unhealthy, even deathly environment. A lack of urgency to help inmates gives the impression that inmates' lives don't matter as much as much as others. Now anyone with a minor conviction could receive a death sentence.
It is truly unfortunate to see the current situation of prisons in the US. Even though the inmates' safety is clearly being jeopardized, this issue is not seen as a top priority, as other problems have garnered more attention. The coronavirus has affected many demographics and has especially impacted low-income groups, and even with the measures taken to help them, their well-being is still not secure. It seems as though the proposed legislation for prisons is trying to remedy part of the problem, but more effort and attention must be directed towards prisons before any substantial change can occur. Space is also an issue to consider since there are a limited amount of centers these inmates can be relocated to.
During this pandemic, inmates have truly become the forgotten population as new challenges often lead most to forget about those who are incarcerated and focus on some issues that usually directly affect them. Inmates, no matter if their crime was petty or not, should not have to suffer at the hands of poor sanitation and testing within prisons which truly highlights how American society has completely discarded those in incarceration by treating them as second in nature to those who are free. Overall, though, this whole situation has clearly outlined the injustices within the prison system where those who commit petty crimes ultimately pay the same price as mass murderers. In addition, it also demonstrates how low-income communities who have been hit hard by the pandemic continue to be hurt and un-protected within the prison systems. Although much of the legislation being rolled out to help control the spread of the virus in prisons is a step in the right direction, more drastic measures should be taken very soon. As of now, the pandemic does not seem to be leaving anytime in the near future and I fear that the longer these inmates are kept tightly packed together in cramped cells their health will eventually only deteriorate.
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