Prison architect prisons not loading
Some states chose to report one, two, or all three of these capacity measures to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
There are three accepted ways to measure prison system capacity. As a result, our crowded state and federal prisons have a COVID-19 case rate four times higher, and a death rate twice as high as in the general population. This contributes to deadly outcomes, as close quarters and high rates of preexisting health conditions among incarcerated people exacerbate the crisis behind bars. Throughout the country, states and the federal system have failed to carry out major prison reductions, leaving prisons operating at, close to, or even above their stated capacities. Prisons were not designed to address a public health crisis, and even before COVID-19 entered the picture, public health officials knew that correctional and detention settings were breeding grounds for all sorts of communicable diseases. But even as many prison populations slowly decrease in response to the pandemic, there is still not enough space inside most prisons to allow for adequate social distancing or medical isolation and quarantine. Public health and medical experts have recommended decarceration since the beginning of the pandemic, arguing that fewer people behind bars would protect those who remain incarcerated and correctional staff, as well as slow the spread of COVID-19 in surrounding communities. 3 This makes sense when we consider that many state and local governments have mandated restaurants, retail spaces, and schools to operate at a reduced capacity to slow the spread of COVID-19 through communities. In a recent study of Texas prison capacity, COVID infection rates, and mortality, researchers found that prisons holding between 94 and 102% of their capacity had higher infection rates and more deaths than prisons operating at 85% of their total capacity, suggesting that a prison’s crowdedness correlates with viral spread. But during the current pandemic, overcrowded prisons - and even prisons operating at levels approaching capacity - are more deadly than ever. Prison overcrowding has always been a serious problem, correlated with increased violence, lack of adequate health care, limited programming and educational opportunities, and reduced visitation.
Prison systemĬurrent operating level based on lowest reported capacityĬurrent operating level based on highest reported capacity Two states, Connecticut and Ohio, did not report capacity data to BJS and are therefore not included.) For population counts and reported capacities, see the appendix table below. (We calculated current levels based on each of these three capacity metrics, and reported the highest and lowest results.
PRISON ARCHITECT PRISONS NOT LOADING FULL
For this analysis, we collected the most recent population data available from state departments of corrections and the Bureau of Prisons and we calculated how full the 48 state prison systems and the federal Bureau of Prisons currently are, based on the rated, operational, and design capacities that state and federal officials reported to the Bureau of Justice Statistics for the report, Prisoners in 2019. Gauging overcrowding in state prison systems during the pandemic No matter which measure of capacity you use, most states have way too many people confined in facilities Only one state - Maine - has a current prison population below 50% of their capacity. 1 Despite the ongoing pandemic, and efforts to reduce the number of people behind bars, we calculated that 41 states are currently operating at 75% or more of their capacity, with at least nine of those state prison systems and the federal Bureau of Prisons are still operating at more than 100%. Now, 10 months into the pandemic, we find that there are still far too many people crowded into prisons across the country.
These prison systems were holding more people than their facilities were designed to house. Since you asked: Just how overcrowded were prisons before the pandemic, and at this time of social distancing, how overcrowded are they now? As states mandate reducing the capacity of public spaces to slow the spread of COVID-19, we collect the data to show just how overcrowded almost every state prison system still is.īefore the pandemic, nine state prison systems and the BOP were operating at 100% capacity or more.