The release of 19,000 low-risk inmates is a bold and necessary step to save lives Earlier this month Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola made the long-overdue announcement that 19,000 low-risk inmates would be released from prison. It is a bold and necessary step to save lives as Covid-19 threatens to wreak havoc
Following vigorous lobbying and petitioning of the state by activists, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a process to release over 19 000 low-risk inmates to curb the spread of the virus in prisons. At the time of publication there were 213 confirmed cases in South African prisons, 124 of them prison officials. Two inmates and one
The coronavirus pandemic is ravaging American communities — and few places are being hit harder than prisons and jails. Massive outbreaks of the disease have struck scores of facilities — and with so few tests being administered behind bars, the problem is undoubtedly far worse than is known. As the virus continues to spread in
In 2019, Devon, a gay man serving time at a prison in Nevada, was raped by two other prisoners whom he considered friends. When he told other inmates, they accused him of lying and warned that if he told staff what happened, he risked being hurt or killed. Still, Devon mustered the courage to come
If you thought the confined spaces of cruise ships, nursing homes and once-crowded bars were especially bad petri dishes for the spread of the coronavirus – think again. Public health officials, medical experts, lawmakers and inmates are bracing for the outbreak to continue crippling overstuffed prisons and jails across the country. “The projections for the toll that