User:Shreyaprao/sandbox/COVIDinprison

Demographics in Prison
The rates at which Black, Hispanic, and White Americans are arrested are disproportionate when comparing these figures to the population of our country. While White Americans make up approximately 65% of the United States in terms of population, they only make up roughly 30% of the prison population. On the other hand, Black Americans account for 12% of the U.S. population while accounting for nearly 33% in prison. Additionally, the minority groups are significantly more likely than White Americans to be infected with and die from the coronavirus. For instance, approximately one in four (25%) COVID-19 deaths are among the non-Hispanic Black population but only 13% of the total US population is non-Hispanic Black. Although this disproportionate impact on minority populations is not solely due to the demographics of the prisons in America, it is a situation that must be addressed and considered.

This distribution of rates in the prison system of the United States, particularly among non-White Americans such as Black and Hispanic Americans, can be explained by our country's history with the intersectionality of race, justice, and mass incarceration as a means of financial gains for White Americans while perpetually putting down African Americans. Although slavery was abolished with the passing of the 13th Amendment in 1865, many scholars content that slavery has been continued since the end of the Civil War through criminalizing common behaviors of black people and enabling police to arrest poor Black men.

The lasting effects of such policies play a role in our current disproportionate rates of incarceration, affecting the overall rate of those positively tested for COVID-19 within the prison system. What has been historically and fundamentally a system designed to promote the “put-away” culture in our nation now additionally harms minority groups, particularly Black and Hispanic Americans, by putting them at a higher risk of contracting the virus, as they comprise of the majority of the prison systems in our nation at 53%. This is why demographically, minority groups are considered to have a higher rate of COVID-positive individuals within the prison system.

Medical Access in Prison
The medical access in prisons currently is very skewed, with study showing that 68.4% of the inmates did not receive a medical examination. This extends as far as mental healthcare, with about 2.2 million inmates being voided to access to care. This has to do with the privatization of healthcare, in which many states switched to hiring private companies to provide this care to cut their costs. The problem, though, is that the quality of these services have been questioned, as this care is being provided by a private company that would like to cost-cut as well. This, and the possibility of the existing medical biases with the current demographics incarcerated, make it extremely difficult for the inmates to access care that is of high quality as well.

Overcrowding in Prison
This negligence to provide care also has to do with the overcrowding of the American prison systems themselves as well. In 2019, it was recorded that 2.2 million Americans are in jail currently, which is more than the population of residents in several largest cities in America, such as Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas. With such high numbers, America is crowding its prison systems at 103.9% of prison capacity.

Logistically, such limited space for so many inmates doesn’t allow there to be social distancing, and with those imprisoned having to share many essential materials, such as the toilet and sink, there is a chance of an inmate contracting the virus from contact of shared objects or materials. Current inmates are given a 5x5 space, which doesn't allow the recommended minimum threshold of staying 6 feet apart from others. In fact, some inmates sleep at a distance of 3 feet away from others. With the inaccessibility to healthcare and such closed quarters, the likelihood that an inmate can contract the virus increases significantly. This can be seen in Rikers Island in New York City, where there is nearly 8 time more infections from COVID-19 than the rest of the city.