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The number of inmates at Allegheny County Jail who are positive for covid-19 has doubled in the last week.
As of Sunday, 76 inmates were positive for the novel coronavirus, with another 27 tests pending, according to the county’s website.
Also on Monday, six pods at the jail were in full isolation, while another nine were operating under quarantine, according to an email obtained by the Tribune-Review.
Shaun Conroy, 31, of Homestead, is a pod worker at the jail. He believes he contracted the virus from a correctional officer who came to work sick two days in a row. During those shifts, Conroy said the officer looked pale and coughed repeatedly with her mask down.
Terrell Leonard is being held at Allegheny County Jail on a probation violation.
In late January, he learned that one of the correctional officers who worked on his pod, 2D, tested positive for covid-19.
A short time later, he said in a court declaration, pod workers and then inmates on his pod started to experience symptoms as well.
By Feb. 1, Leonard, 28, who has sleep apnea, a deviated septum and allergies, said he developed a fever, sore throat and hot and cold sweats. Within two days, he said he had lost his sense of taste and smell, had body aches and difficulty breathing.
NPEP Director Jennifer Lackey opened the event, which was co-sponsored by One Book One Northwestern.
“This roundtable series aims to open space for conversation on these critical topics and to bridge research, legal work, policy and community activism in addressing them,” Lackey said.
Maya Schenwar, editor in chief of Truthout, a publication focused on social justice issues, opened her talk by discussing the one-year anniversary of the death of her sister, who had been incarcerated.
Her sister, Keeley, was on probation when she died of an overdose. She had been forced into an abstinence-based drug program, which left her vulnerable, Schenwar said. Keeley died while hiding from the police, Schenwar said, because “that’s what you do so often when you are a criminalized drug user.”
The Impact of Covid-19 Inside of the Pennsylvania Prison System
by Gregory Muhammad
Prison is the darkest place on our planet. It is also the loneliest in terms of being separated from family members and friends.
Prisoners have a saying when faced with “prison injustice,” it goes, “out of sight, out of mind.”
Who cares about prisoners? They are there because of committing a crime on others.
This is a saying among most people who have never served time in a prison.
When a person is convicted in a court of law and sentenced this is the “punishment.”
There is no additional punishment after sentencing.
Originally published on February 4, 2021 6:56 pm
A first-of-its-kind court case in Pennsylvania is asking a big question: How long do people need to stay in prison before they get a second chance?
More than 1,000 people are serving life without parole in Pennsylvania, even though they never intended to kill anyone. Seventy percent of those people are Black.
I met Tyreem Rivers on the phone in November, when his voice was a little muffled. Well, I have two or three masks on, Rivers said with a laugh. I have at least two masks on, so I m trying to stay safe.
Staying safe is hard when you re confined with hundreds of other men during a pandemic. Rivers, 43, has spent more than half his life in prison. He grew up in a rough part of Philadelphia. When he arrived behind bars in 1997, he says he was hooked on drugs and could barely read.