Forbes: Alexandra Sternlicht - July 8, 2020

People in prisons and jails are 5.5 times more likely to get Covid-19 and three times more likely to die from it, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins and UCLA published today in JAMA, putting numbers to disparate evidence of the virality of the disease in prison settings.

• With the findings, the researchers conclude systemic change is needed: “COVID-19 in US priso...

Starting on July 13, 2020, PHL City ID will host pop-up mobile sites in partnership with community-based organizations. These mobile sites will operate on Tuesdays and Fridays. Those who are interested in getting the ID card must schedule an appointment. On August 3, the PHL City ID team will resume operations at City Hall, room 167, by appointment only. 

The PHL City ID provides a secure and affordable photo identifi...

Time Magazine: Andrew Welsh-Huggins - July 3, 2020

The number of prison inmates testing positive for the coronavirus soared well past the 50,000 mark last month, as recent outbreaks threatened to undo control measures put in place earlier in the pandemic.

At the end of June, the total number of coronavirus cases among prisoners had reached at least 52,649, an increase of 8% from the week before, according to data compiled b...

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Michaelle Bond - July 2, 2020

Philadelphia’s landlord-tenant court, which has been closed since mid-March to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, was scheduled to reopen Monday.

But the court will remain closed to nonemergency business at least through Sept. 2 because of the increasing number of new infections in the city and “limitations in accessing court facilities,” according to a district cour...

For a pdf with embedded links, click here.

The New York Times - June 25, 2020

The situation inside the nation’s jails and prisons amid the Covid-19 pandemic has become the stuff of nightmares. Overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, shortages of personal protective equipment (not to mention soap) and restrictions on hygiene products such as hand sanitizer have turned detention facilities into a playground for the virus and a death trap for inmates — many of whom,...

PEW: Michael Ollove - July 1, 2020

COVID-19 has raged throughout U.S. jails and prisons, where people live together in close quarters and there is little opportunity for social distancing, a lack of basic sanitary supplies and high rates of chronic disease.

While inmates mostly stay behind concrete walls and barbed wire, those barriers can’t contain an infectious disease like COVID-19. Not only can the virus be brought into jail...

The Progressive: Daniel Munczek Edelman - June 29, 2020

COVID-19 has stricken our nation’s jails and prisons, leading to tens of thousands of sickened inmates and more than 500 deaths. In response, many federal, state and local governments have agreed to release incarcerated people to slow the virus’s spread.

The term for this trend is decarceration. 

Prosecutors, police and judges are now coordinating to have as few people...

Starting July 6 PHDC will accept applications for a new round of rental assistance. Renters and landlords may submit their application online, by fax, or by mail. Funds will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

• Applicants must be Philadelphia residents (renters in other counties must apply to their county’s designated organization).

• Landlords and renters must each provide information.

• Ren...

PennLive: Charles Thompson - June 24, 2020

A bill aimed at helping people with past criminal records find open doors to work in occupations directly regulated by the state received final passage in the Pennsylvania General Assembly on Wednesday and is now headed to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk for adoption. Wolf is expected to sign it.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin County, breezed through the House and Senate...

Keri Blakinger and Keegan Hamilton - The Marshall Project: June 18, 2020

He sounded like he was dying.

That was Sonia Rodriguez’s first thought when her fiancé called her from federal prison near Cleveland. The gravelly voice she had known since high school had turned into a wheeze. He could barely finish a sentence without pausing to catch his breath. He said he was coughing up blood.

Rodriguez, a 49-year-old who handles account...

Joseph Shapiro - NPR: June, 15, 2020

Prisons across the country have placed prisoners on lockdown — they're kept in their cells mostly around-the-clock — as a way to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Now prison reformers are worried that the response has increased the use of a practice they've long fought: solitary confinement.

"We're starting to see an alarming trend in light of COVID-19," says Jessica Sandoval of Unlock the...

Timothy Williams, Libby Seline and Rebecca Griesbach - The New York Times: June 16, 2020

Cases of the coronavirus in prisons and jails across the United States have soared in recent weeks, even as the overall daily infection rate in the nation has remained relatively flat.

The number of prison inmates known to be infected has doubled during the past month to more than 68,000. Prison deaths tied to the coronavirus...

Deanna Van Buren & F. Javier Torres-Campos – Stanford Social Innovation Review, June 9, 2020

With the highest incarceration rate in the world, US prisons and jails are drivers for the catastrophic outbreak of COVID-19. Because of dense living conditions, limited soap and hand sanitizer, poor access to quality healthcare, and an increasingly elderly population, the outbreaks we’ve seen so far may be just the beginning.

It’s no su...