Confronted with significant flaws in coronavirus data, Pa. corrections officials concede ‘it’s unacceptable’
Updated Jan 29, 2021;
Posted Jan 29, 2021
Sharon Murchison is photographed at her home on January 28, 2021, in Philadelphia, Pa. Department of Corrections officials are using faulty data to justify keeping prisoners longer behind bars, leaving families, advocates and data analysts in the dark on how bad it is inside. Murchinson has a husband and two brothers that are incarcerated. She recently testified at a hearing on the above matter.
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Story by Joseph Darius Jaafari of Spotlight PA
HARRISBURG The Department of Corrections is reporting flawed data to keep inmates, families, and public officials informed about COVID-19 in its prisons, raising questions about the agency’s ability to accurately track the extent of the outbreak.
Jose F. Moreno / Philadelphia Inquirer
The Department of Corrections is reporting flawed data to keep inmates, families, and public officials informed about COVID-19 in its prisons, raising questions about the agency’s ability to accurately track the extent of the outbreak.
A five-month analysis of prison data by Spotlight PA found large fluctuations in the number of tests administered and unexplained changes to the death count. The findings were confirmed by a California researcher who was also tracking the department’s data and had noticed problems.
“It’s one thing to have little mistakes here and there, but if it’s month after month that there’s many data reporting problems, it definitely causes me pause,” said Hope Johnson, a data fellow at UCLA’s COVID Behind Bars Project, which tracks COVID-19 infections in prisons nationwide.
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