“When You Arrest as Many People as We Do, You Cannot Protect Against Infectious Spread”
A new study finds that American jails — not just prisons — are a major hot spot for spreading coronavirus. The solution is simple: stop arresting so many people.
A sign pleading for help hangs in a window at the Cook County jail complex on April 9, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
The role of prisons in COVID-19 hot spots is fairly well known. Less known, however, is the role of jails. Prisons are places where people are held after conviction for a major crime; jails are where people are caged after arrest and while awaiting trial.
Eric Reinhart, an anthropologist, and Daniel Chen, an economist, have a paper in Health Affairs that estimates how jail turnover has fostered the spread of COVID-19 in Chicago. Reinhart and Chen find that one in six cases of coronavirus in the city can be traced to the Cook County Jail. The role of the jail in spreading the disease also helps explain the disproportionate effect COVID-19 has had on black people in the United States, who are, of course, disproportionately incarcerated.
Doug Henwood, the host of Jacobin Radio’s Behind the News, recently interviewed Reinhart on his program. The following is a condensed version of their conversation; you can find the entire audio here and subscribe to Jacobin Radio here.
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