As many Americans round out the end of their first month of social distancing, it’s clear that the toll of “stay at home” orders during the COVID-19 pandemic is much more than economic. The anxiety and fear that wash over us each day that we spend alone, away from friends, coworkers, and family, inflict their own kind of emotional damage.  

The cost of social isolation is a worthy cost in this case — staying home can quite literally save lives. But for some people, the advent of social isolation came long before the coronavirus. At the ACLU, we work with many communities who deal with the long-term impacts of social isolation: people living with disabilities who often experience accessibility issues, people held in detention, and people imprisoned in solitary confinement, just to name a few. 

Joining us on this episode of our podcast, At Liberty, is Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University who understands the psychological and physiological impacts of isolation, and how we can mitigate them for both ourselves and others. We also spoke with a few people — Anna Landre, TreShaun Pate, Jason Hernandez and Claire Goldberg — who know a thing or two about social distancing. Their circumstances have made them familiar with isolation long before COVID-19. Listen here to learn from their experiences, and for tips from Dr. Holt-Lunstad on how to ease the pain of isolation during this pandemic.
 

Date

Tuesday, April 14, 2020 - 2:30pm

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With 10 deaths and more than 500 positive COVID-19 cases in the nation’s federal prisons, wardens must “move with dispatch” to “move vulnerable inmates out of these institutions.” These are the words that Attorney General William Barr used on April 3rd when he directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to reduce the federal prison population in the wake of COVID-19.

This instruction – though still lacking in concrete guidelines and timelines for release – is nearly a 180-degree turn for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which was taking a less urgent approach a just few weeks ago, even suggesting that “many inmates will be safer in BOP facilities.” Now realizing this is not the case, BOP wardens have been given the directive to protect lives against COVID-19. Having failed to prevent the suffering on their own to date, they must reverse course as well.

Since BOP reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 21, the virus has spread through its facilities “like wildfire.” In a matter of days, the COVID-19 infection rate increased nine-fold according to BOP’s own accounting, which is likely an undercount. Over the course of two weeks, those who tested positive for COVID-19 increased 8,600 percent according to the Federal Defenders. Today, more than 350 incarcerated persons and almost 200 staff have COVID-19. And with 70 percent of the BOP population Black and Latinx, people of color will bear the brunt of prison outbreaks.   

Public health experts warned that jails and prisons could become “incubators” for COVID-19. It is impossible to heed the primary recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) when incarcerated or working in a prison. You cannot practice social distancing behind bars. Hand sanitizer is contraband at most facilities. Soap costs money and can otherwise be hard to come by. And 45 percent of the federal prison population has chronic conditions. Experts say that prison systems are like “outpatient clinics,” and “should not weather the coronavirus on their own.” The clear solution is to reduce the size of the incarcerated population.

With the issuance of the April 3rd memo, DOJ and BOP suggested that they were taking those steps, as advocates, federal defenders, elected officials, and public health experts had called for. The recently enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act gives DOJ and BOP somewhat broader authority to reduce the federal prison population in the wake of COVID-19. It is this authority that Attorney General Barr invoked on April 3 when he said “time is of the essence” to move “all at-risk inmates” to home confinement.

However, BOP wardens are not moving fast enough to safely reduce the federal prison population. Their proposed “plan” to review prisoners for release at the federal facility at Oakdale, Louisiana — where six men have already died and we had to sue to get the plan in the first place — is woefully insufficient and lacks any enforceable timelines. This shows that certain wardens — and perhaps BOP as a whole still — do not grasp the severity of the moment.

Before utilizing the CARES Act provisions, BOP moved 566 people from prison to home confinement in response to the pandemic. Now, over 900 people are on home confinement. But thousands should be going home with DOJ’s charge to immediately transfer “the most vulnerable inmates” at “the most affected facilities.” DOJ must now be clear that all facilities require population reduction to mitigate or prevent a COVID-19 outbreak, and that all incarcerated persons susceptible to COVID-19 — those who are older and elderly, as well as those who have underlying conditions — be sent home or to another facility where they can socially distance. BOP should not limit release based on facility or racially-biased risk assessments.   

A third of BOP facilities are currently reporting COVID-19 cases. One third. Prisons in Oakdale, Louisiana; Danbury, Connecticut; Butner, North Carolina; Lompoc, California; and Yazoo City, Mississippi each report several dozen cases. These numbers are unacceptable, and preventable.  

ACLU advocacy has already led to thousands of people being released from local jails and state prisons. The ACLU will continue pushing (and suing) from every angle to stem the outbreak in our nation’s jails and prisons. The wardens overseeing the 122 federal prisons have no time to spare. It is critical that they use every tool at their disposal to get people home.

Kanya Bennett, Senior Legislative Counsel. ACLU Washington Legislative Office

Date

Monday, April 13, 2020 - 2:30pm

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COVID-19 has heightened awareness about the importance of easy, equitable voting access. While many of the struggles facing election administrators during this public health crisis seem unprecedented, they each represent an opportunity to refine local policies and practices to ensure every Floridian has the opportunity to vote – and to have that vote count.

As Floridians, like the rest of the world, navigate living and working during a pandemic, a risk to our democracy has emerged – how will we vote?

In answering this dilemma, it is useful to ask, how have we voted? The reality is that voting access in Florida has long been inconsistent and inequitable. How easy it is to vote, and have your vote counted, has depended on your age, your race, where you live and how much free time you have. These factors will be exacerbated by the current public health crisis.

These inequities are not consistent with our core values, or with protection of the fundamental right to vote; every eligible American should have access to the ballot. Many of the solutions to improve voting access are not only possible in the current crisis – they are necessary.

As such, this report offers insight for supervisors of elections and their staff as they navigate administering elections in a public health crisis. It highlights where others can assist. For voters who want to push their local election officials to do the right thing, guides and one-page summaries are included.

This report presents background information and policy recommendations for establishing four pillars of equitable voting access: reliable and fair vote by mail, early voting access, equity in polling locations and access for all:

Fair & Inclusive Vote by Mail

Early Voting Access

Equity in Polling Locations

Ensure Access to All

Local Voting Rights Advocacy 101

Date

Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 12:00pm

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