It's Monday. I'm Oscar Emiras from the Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update. Coronavirus has been tearing through jails and prisons across the country.
A recent analysis by Reuters has found that there has been an undercounting of COVID nineteen cases in the system, and it's some state prisons are seeing infection rates of up to six While there is a worry that inmates could be getting ill in such close quarters, the other concern is all of the corrections officers and workers that could also be infected and then spread the virus throughout their communities. Research shows that the majority of those infected
have been asymptomatic. Linda So, reporter for Reuters, joins us for how coronavirus is spreading in jails and prison Thanks for joining us, Linda, I wanted to talk about coronavirus and what's going on in US jails and prisons. We've been hearing a lot about it. A lot of times. These people are forgotten in a lot of this. Some people don't care because they might be criminals, etcetera, etcetera.
But up until now, what we had been hearing is that prisons and jails are fertile ground for coronavirus to spread. There was even a string of headlines where there was a lot of inmates being released because of COVID nineteen worries. But their ed routers, you guys took a deep look into a lot of different aspects of the jail in prison system and are just finding out that there is a lot more people that are getting infected in there
than official numbers would really state. So Linda tell us a little bit about the research you guys did and some of the findings. So, the CDC had conducted a survey where they reached out to all the health departments nationwide to get numbers on the number of inspected inmates throughout all the correctional facilities in the US, and they had thirty seven of those agencies respond and reported just
under five thousand inmate cases. What we did at Gorders is we conducted a far smaller survey and found well over three times that number, about seventeen thousand, three hundred cases. So it was illuminating in the way that a lot of these places, because many jails in the US don't
make their numbers public, they're not known. So what we found in this far smaller survey is there are a lot of cases that are going unreported, very similar in the way we've been following numbers for the general population, you know, outside of these prisons and jails. A lot of it has to do with testing and testing as many people as possible, and a lot of jails weren't
really doing that. First off, tests were hard to come by for the jail population, but secondly, they would be testing people that only had symptoms when a lot of people are pushing for everybody in these systems to be tested. So as part of this survey, we looked into that and what we found was many jails continue to only
test their inmates if they are showing symptoms. A lot of we documented ten state prison systems that have wide and testing, and they are conducting a form of mass testing where they're testing all their inmates even if they aren't showing symptoms. And so for those facilities that are mass testing, there were infection rates at about sixty So it just goes to show that because many of these jails aren't testing all of their inmates, they're only testing
if you're showing certain symptoms. There's a drastic undercount. Have you got any response from the CDC as far as to the discrepancy and these numbers. So the CDC is part of their report, did acknowledge that only thirty seven of those agencies that they surveyed responded, So it was based on those numbers. Let's talk a little bit more about what's going on at these facilities. The US has
more people behind bars in any other nation. I think as of two thousand eighteen, the numbers were two point two million, And there's a difference between jails and prisons and how the possible spread of coronavirus could work out there. Tell us a little bit about that. So when you think about the spread of coronavirus within these facilities, it
doesn't just affect the inmates. First of all, jails are generally paces where inmates go for a short period of time there is either awaiting arrest or their shirts serving short sentences, So there's a constant turn of inmates going in and out, and so they become pathways of spreading this virus. If they're released from the jail and go back into the community, they become pathways to spread it in the community, and it's not just the inmates who
are of concern here. What we also found is that there are thousands of workers, correctional officers who are working in these facilities, medical staff who day in and day out, they report to work, go to jail. At the end of the day, they leave, and they can carry it back to the community. So this isn't only a concern for the inmates in the jail, but it is for the greater population because of the risk that these people who are moving in and out of these facilities can
become vestors or pathways, so to speak. We mentioned testing a little bit. How has testing been going for the correctional workers. We highlighted one jail in our story, Wayne County Jail in Detroit, Michigan, and the chief of jails there had expressed to us that when this pandemic first began in March, the facility had a hard time. It was very challenging to get their hands on tests and so for their correctional officers, they weren't able to provide
widespread testing. If you recalled, in the early phases of this pandemic, it was a struggle for anyone to get tests. You had to show specific symptoms, and if you weren't showing those specific symptoms, you were denied testing. And that was the case that Wayne County, which ended up a day lost to medical workers and a commander and a deputy.
And so the chief of jails there told us that part of the challenge was because they couldn't provide testing for their death members, it was very hard to get a handle on the spread of the virus. Yeah, and that's such a critical part because, as you mentioned earlier, those are the people that are going home at the end of the day and could be getting it out into the community, you know, when they're working all day in such close quarters with everybody then they go home,
then those are the people that are spreading it around. So, yeah, that widespread testing for the workers is critical. And then another aspect of this whole thing with the jail and prison system. Obviously I mentioned the headlines and so many inmates being released from the systems to help reduce the overcrowding there because there was a lot of times where people were still in you know, three people to us sell, etcetera. Things like that. So tell us a little bit about that,
about the release of all these inmates. So there were calls to release inmates, those who perhaps are older and more vulnerable, and those with underlying conditions. But what we found in reporting our story is that these correctional facilities, not all of them had standard procedures for releasing inmates. So, for instance, we highlight Well County Jail in Colorado in our stories where there were several inmates, one who ended up dying. He had COVID nineteens. He left the jail
and he died. However, from what we found, there was no standard procedure in ensuring that when he was released, he was not given any medical care. He came into contact with other people. So that's another risk when you think about these inmates who are leaving these facilities, they too could become a vector or a pathway of spreading it because not all jails have a standard procedure to medically screen these inmates as they're leaving. I know there
was a lot of fur about it. There's a lot of victims rights groups that were also really mad that some of these inmates were being released and people weren't getting notified, So I know that was another big angle to all of this. There have been some victims rights groups who have expressed their concerns that not all crime victims were being notified when these inmates were being let out. Question about some other findings that possibly could have come out.
Were you finding that some of these inmates were either displaying asymptomatically or were they getting very sick and ill and requiring hospitalizations? Did any of that come out in your research? We did focus on ten state prison systems who are conducting mass testing, and interestingly, we found that
a high percentage of these inmates were asymptomatic. So in Michigan States, their correctional facility decided to mass test at many of their facilities because they really thought, we couldn't get a handle on this disease if we don't know who has it, So they began the mass testing, which
revealed a high rate of asymptomatic inmates. And the concern was, for many of these correctional facilities, it's hard to contain the spread if you really don't know who has it, So that really was a big factor in their decision to go ahead with mass testing in many of their facilities. And as a result of all of this, there's more than one lawsuits nationwide, and a lot of them are
class action lawsuits. You know, they're still asking for more mass releases of inmates or other measures to reduce overcrowding and the infection risks in these jails. Those lawsuits continue, the fight continues, and again there's a lot of push
and pull. Some of those victims rights groups like we mentioned before, are fighting against it because they believe that there's a risk if you release these inmates, but a lot of other organizations like the a c. L You, they're really fighting for the release because many of these inmates are medically vulnerable, or again the older population who are more at risks. And what kind of reaction have you gotten so far to this special report that you
guys did. Just from reading, I can see that the prison officials obviously feel like they could be at wits end. Maybe you know, they don't know exactly what's happening. They're trying to get a handle on the testing, and they're fearful for themselves and for their workers and even the inmates. But what other kind of reactions have you gotten to this.
One of the important things that have come out from this is the fact that the outbreak in these jails doesn't just affect the people who are held behind bars. But again it's those inmates who may be leaving the jails, and the medical workers and the correctional officers who are leaving every day who can carry it back out to this community. I suggest everybody go out and read the report by Linda and they're at Reuter's. There's a lot of pretty stark numbers with regards to what's going on
in the jail and prison population. Linda, so reporter at Reuter's, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been your daily coronavirus update. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories, you can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.