Lessons from Disaster: Assessing the COVID-19 Response in Youth Jails & Prisons
Madalyn K. Wasilczuk. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare many of the cruel and inhumane conditions that persist in U.S. jails and prisons. Headlines have highlighted the lack of access to adequate cleaning supplies and personal hygiene materials, restrictions on hand sanitizer, under-resourced medical facilities, and the costliness of phone calls and video visits for people in custody. Jails, prisons, and detention centers are some of the most virulent hotspots for transmission, and lawyers, activists, and family members have mobilized to depopulate carceral facilities as a mitigation measure. Less attention has been paid to the plight of the approximately 48,000 children confined away from home on any given night. Of those children, about 20% are held pre- adjudication, meaning they have not been adjudicated delinquent for any offense. Though state…