prisons
U.S. prisons chief insists to Senate panel there’s been ‘visible change’ in the system
WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Wednesday outlined to the Senate Judiciary Committee how she has sought improvements in the nation’s troubled prison system, and fielded questions from Republicans about transgender inmates. “Developing meaningful change throughout the agency is not something that happens in a moment,” Colette Peters, the director […]
Federal prisons ‘riddled with mismanagement’ probed by U.S. Senate panel
WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in a Thursday hearing last week grilled the top leader of federal prisons on how the agency would address staffing shortages and reports of abuse of incarcerated people. “The Bureau (of Prisons) has been riddled with mismanagement and, sadly, with scandal,” said the chair of the […]
U.S. government failed to properly count deaths of people in prisons and jails, Senate report says
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice did not properly count nearly 1,000 deaths of incarcerated people in jails and prisons, according to a bipartisan report released Tuesday by a U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee. The 10-month investigation by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, found that DOJ […]
Ohio’s prison workforce is 28% vaccinated, per state data; lowest rate among all state agencies
Ohio’s prison authority, the largest government agency in the state tasked with overseeing the 43,000 inmates in its custody, is the least vaccinated entity in Ohio’s government, according to state data based on employee-submitted records. About 28% of employees within the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction are vaccinated against COVID-19 and have submitted proof […]
Funding prisons is a higher priority than funding education in most states. Why?
In America, the land of the free, there are more prisons and more prisoners than any other country in the world. This is not a new phenomenon. For decades, the rate of imprisonment in the United States has been more than twice that of its nearest developmental counterpart. The long-standing question, both at home and abroad, is […]
Coronavirus death toll surpasses 100 in Ohio prisons
More than 100 inmates and workers in Ohio’s prison system have died from COVID-19, state data shows. Five prison workers (three corrections officers and two nurses) and 96 inmates have died from the disease that has clobbered the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction since late March when it was first detected in the system. […]
Ohio prisons chief walks back claim that 96% of prison COVID-19 cases were asymptomatic
The state prisons chief Tuesday walked back an apocryphal claim she has repeated that 96% of the thousands of COVID-19 cases at two prisons came from asymptomatic inmates. While the data are fluid on such a new disease, the CDC’s “best estimate” for modelers and public health officials is that about 35% of COVID-19 infections […]
New COVID-19 cases slow down over last month in Ohio
The rate of new COVID-19 cases in Ohio has trickled downward since early May, an analysis of state data shows. The 10-day average of new cases peaked on May 10 (excluding a surge largely attributable to mass testing in state prisons) at roughly 640. Today that figure is down to an average of 456 new […]
Ohio prisons chief says inmates getting ‘excellent’ health care; 63 dead, thousands infected
Ohio has decreased its prison population by less than 4% while some institutions have been virtually overrun by COVID-19. Four prison workers and 63 inmates have died since prison officials first detected the new coronavirus March 29. More than 4,500 inmates have tested positive, though officials believe this to be a massive undercount since they […]
Despite staggering case counts and 50 deaths, prisons halt mass COVID-19 testing
Two prisons in Ohio have become two of the worst COVID-19 hot spots in the nation. The state, meanwhile, has halted the mass testing that detected the virus in more than 75% of the inmates in two Ohio prisons. At Belmont Correctional Institution, which looks to be the newest prison crushed by the spread of […]
31 dead, thousands infected in Ohio prisons; counts climb at five facilities
The outbreaks in Ohio’s prisons worsened Wednesday as COVID-19 illnesses turned to deaths in two facilities and a newer outbreak snowballed in another. Two prison workers and 29 inmates have died since officials detected the new coronavirus that causes the disease in the prison system March 29. A spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation […]
Ohio’s epidemic might be accelerating. Nursing homes and prisons are getting slammed
Ohio’s curve might be un-flattening. State health officials are detecting COVID-19 cases at an increasing pace, as Gov. Mike DeWine is set to begin a phased-in reopening of the economy beginning May 1. After a slow start in early April, officials have reported increasing amounts of new cases for the last six days in a […]