Granted Parole or Awaiting Trial, Inmates Died of Covid-19 Behind Bars
Among the thousands who have died in prisons and jails from the coronavirus were dozens of people approved for parole or not convicted of a charge for which they were arrested.
A demonstration protesting conditions at San Quentin Prison in California last year. Credit.Jim Wilson/The New York Times
By Rebecca Griesbach and Libby Seline
May 6, 2021
Joe Dan Channel was granted parole from a Texas prison in late 2019. But the 62-year-old man was still behind bars several months later when he fell ill with the coronavirus and died only a few weeks before his release date.