‘He shouldn’t have had to die’: COVID-19 infects half of Wisconsin inmates, five times the overall state rate
Prisoners lack space and some say rules to curb COVID-19 are unevenly enforced
February 13, 2021 8:52 AM Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Posted:
Signs and posters are left outside the Wisconsin governor’s mansion in Maple Bluff, Wis., on June 18, 2020, as part of a “Drive to Decarcerate” event. Those attending urged Gov. Tony Evers to release inmates from Wisconsin’s overcrowded prisons to slow the spread of COVID-19. Before the pandemic, Evers set a goal to cut the state’s prison population in half. But 23 state prisons still exceed their designed capacity.
Wisconsin s 20K prisoners could soon receive COVID-19 vaccine
Wisconsin s 20,000 prisoners could soon start to receive their COVID-19 vaccine shots.
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin s 20,000 prisoners could soon start to receive their COVID-19 vaccine shots. More than half of the Wisconsin prison system has contracted COVID, said Peggy West-Schroder of Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO).
Peggy West-Schroder
West-Schroder advocates for people affected by the prison system. She said the move would be a first step in providing incarcerated individuals protection from the coronavirus. It is something West-Schroder says has been lacking since the pandemic began. These are human beings. And they’re human beings that are being kept in quarters that make them highly susceptible to catch a disease that could kill them, West-Schroder said.