Excess COVID cases just latest of major systemic problems in Md. prisons
Photo from Division of Correction FY 2019 annual report
By Phil Caroom
The COVID-pandemic has exposed major systemic problems in Maryland’s prisons that have been ignored for years.
Let’s compare the population and COVID impacts on two populations:
Area
20.8%
With a population half of Central Annapolis, the prison infection rate is roughly three times that of the state’s capitol. And these statistics exclude the huge impact on prison staff who also have become infected.
Why? Prisons, of course, are “congregate living” facilities – people are housed close together. The faculty at the Johns Hopkins medical and public health schools recommended early in the pandemic for the state to release nonviolent and vulnerable elderly, so that the remaining prisoners could have “social distancing.” But the state has failed to do so except for a small percentage.