arrow Woodbourne Correctional Facility PrisonInsight.com
In ballooning outbreaks at about a third of the state’s 52 correctional facilities, nine incarcerated people have died in a three-week span and more than 1,000 incarcerated people have been infected in that time, according to a WNYC/Gothamist analysis of data from the State’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
The rate of new infections in prisons is now twice that of the general public, the analysis shows. With COVID-19 cases spiking and the looming threat of a new, more infectious COVID-19 variant, advocates and public health experts warn prioritizing incarcerated people and corrections officers for vaccination and releasing vulnerable inmates is now more urgent than ever.
Sen. Hawley tramples the 2020 vote in his run to 2024
Like every Republican hopeful not named “Trump,” Hawley has been pondering how to jump the competition and what to do about the party’s leader who consumes all the political oxygen in the room?
Hawley’s answer: Tie yourself to Trump’s mast. Trump has an ocean of followers. For Republican primary contenders, it’s sink or sail in that sea.
But suppose Trump runs?
You can’t afford to worry about that if you hanker to be president. You better be willing to spend the next three years and your donors’ money aggressively campaigning. If Trump doesn’t run, you’re ready. If he does run, you’ve invested in 2028.
States say theyâre decarcerating, yet 1 in 5 prisoners has had COVID
States say theyâre decarcerating, yet 1 in 5 prisoners has had COVID
December 31, 2020
by
âSome of us wear masks even in our beds, but it feels futile,â said Sarah Jo Pender, incarcerated at the Rockville Correctional Facility, one of Indianaâs three womenâs prisons. âThere is little to do except watch the infection spread and wait my turn to suffer.â These measures did not prevent Pender and six of the 14 women in her cell from contracting COVID-19. They were not alone: As of Dec. 18, the prison had tested 1,050 women; 302 (nearly 29 percent) tested positive.
arrow Juan Serrano Courtesy Juan Serrano
During his 22 years in prison, Juan Serrano kicked a heroin addiction and learned plumbing, electrical and masonry skills. He also became a devout Christian, working as an assistant to the prison chaplain, setting up religious services, and cooking for large groups of prison congregants. But the transformation in his life and reformation of his character couldn’t change Serrano’s sentence: 35 years to life for burglary and robbery.
Serrano’s first parole date was still more than a decade away when the then-58-year-old got a break in June.
“Clemency,” Serrano said in a phone interview. “It’s like hitting the lottery.” He spoke with Gothamist/WNYC from his Flatbush apartment, where he now lives with his wife. “Let me put it that way. To me it’s a miracle.”