COVID-19 condemns the incarcerated in Tennessee to die | Opinion
To combat this risk, prison rights activists and public officials have called for the release of some inmates from the state’s prisons and jails.
- KT Wiley is a doctoral student in the Community Research and Action Program at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College.
- Devin Irish is a master's candidate studying Community Development and Action at Vanderbilt University.
- Sydnie Kupferberg is a rising junior at Vanderbilt University majoring in Human Organizational Development.
As of late April, those incarcerated in Tennessee were three times more likely to have tested positive for COVID-19 than Tennesseans as a whole. With COVID-19 continuing to spread, our prisons are high-risk environments. Incarcerated individuals live in open dormitory housing with a few hundred roommates. Hygiene is a luxury. Opportunities for showers are limited to three times per week, and inmates had to pay for soap until recently. Inmate workers are making personal protective equipment but have no guarantee they will receive protection of their own.
Tennessee’s prisons are among the most crowded in the country. We incarcerate 853 per 100,000 people, compared to 698 nationwide. Overcrowding, combined with a lack of sanitation, drastically increases prisoners’ risks of contracting COVID-19. Inmates are more susceptible to illness and are unable to socially distance. COVID-19 is already inside Tennessee facilities. As of May 11, more than 1,800 inmates had the coronavirus, the Tennessee Department of Correction says. In total, 1,849 inmates at state prisons are infected with COVID-19 and 618 have recovered, the state says.
The state intends to continue to treat inmates with COVID-19 in Tennessee Department of Correction infirmaries. Yet, with the high risk of the infection spreading, these facilities may quickly be overrun. To combat this risk, prison rights activists and public officials have called for the release of some inmates from the state’s prisons and jails. Yet, on April 10, a Davidson County judge denied Public Defender Martesha Johnson’s petition to release low-risk and vulnerable inmates. This petition included those 60-plus with underlying medical conditions, which make them especially vulnerable to COVID-19, and those whose remaining sentences are 60 days or less. We can reduce this risk.
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Those who are awaiting trial for low-level, nonviolent offenses should be released. If they are not, we are sentencing the presumed innocent to increased risk of illness and even death because they cannot make bail. In 2018, those awaiting trial made up 51% of Tennessee’s local jail population. Parole has transitioned to using electronic monitoring, and monitoring of those awaiting trial could happen electronically as well. Further, legal visits have been suspended because of distancing measures. Thus, we must also provide access to lawyers by waiving fees and time restrictions for legal phone calls.
We urge the Surgeon General to order the conditional release of prisoners under Legislative 42 U.S.C. S264. This includes those with low-level, nonviolent offenses and those at high risk of complications from COVID-19, such as seniors and those with underlying conditions. High-profile inmates such as Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, was released from prison to home confinement because of the threat of the pandemic. Inmates in Tennessee are also at risk, yet they may lack his political, economic and racial privilege. We urge Gov. Bill Lee to reconsider those whose lives we value, and to support the release of our most vulnerable.
If we truly believe in justice, now is the time to act on it and reduce the risk of illness for over 52,000 people held in Tennessee’s jails and prisons and more than 6,500 TDOC workers. If we do not act now, we must confront the reality that we may be condemning people to die.
KT Wiley is a doctoral student in the Community Research and Action Program at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College.
Devin Irish is a master's candidate studying Community Development and Action at Vanderbilt University.
Sydnie Kupferberg is a rising junior at Vanderbilt University majoring in Human Organizational Development with interests in criminal and juvenile justice reform as well as creative writing.