In the USA Today, Research and Policy Fellow Amanda Klonsky and Senior Data Scientist Erika Tyagi make the case for mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for prison staff, who are helping to fuel a public health emergency in U.S. prisons by refusing vaccination in large numbers.

In The Atlantic, Research and Policy Fellow Amanda Klonsky argues for mandatory vaccination policies for law enforcement agencies across the country. In most states that report data, less than 50 percent of police officers have received COVID-19 vaccines, putting in harm's way incarcerated people as well as local community members.

With Georgia State Representative Josh McLaurin, Research and Policy Fellow Amanda Klonsky and Data Scientist Hope Johnson highlight the Georgia Department of Corrections' rollbacks of transparency measures put in place during the pandemic. Despite rising case numbers across the state, in mid-July, the Georgia Department of Corrections stopped reporting data related to COVID-19 inside its facilities, including the number of people who have died.

In June 2020, we established a public records investigative team to obtain the COVID data carceral agencies don't publish. Since then, we've utilized state and federal public records statutes to request and collect pandemic-related data from a range of governmental bodies.

 

As the Delta variant causes surges across the country, the states with the greatest increases in new cases are also the least transparent about the spread of COVID-19 behind bars.

 

With COVID-19 case numbers rising across the country, prisons workers remain largely unvaccinated, but agencies are doubling down on restrictions for incarcerated people.

 

Have a legal research question about COVID behind bars? Check out the Health Is Justice Litigation Hub, a collaboration between the UCLA Law COVID Behind Bars Data Project, Zealous, the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School, and the Bronx Defenders, a searchable database of court decisions and legal filings relating to the pandemic behind bars.

 
We've been collecting data related to grassroots organizing efforts since the start of the pandemic. Here's what we've found.