Justice and Health
Vaccine Delays Keep COVID Deaths High in Alabama Prisons
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Alabama has the nation’s fifth highest rate of COVID-19 deaths among incarcerated populations, but the vaccine supply is still only a trickle.
Juvenile Justice
New York Scores ‘F’ in COVID Testing of Rural Justice-Involved Youth
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Just 26 tests were conducted in suburban and rural juvenile detention facilities during the first six months of the pandemic—a statistic nearly buried because of the state’s lack of transparency, according to an investigation by The Imprint. A health expert called it “a heartbreaking example of children who get lost in systems.”
Policing
Racism Blocked My Appointment as Chief, Charges St. Louis Cop
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Veteran St. Louis Officer Lt. Col. Troy Doyle was the favored candidate to become the city’s first Black police chief, but the county’s Board of Police Commissioners picked a white officer. Now Doyle has launched a lawsuit claiming the decision was influenced by corporate donors opposed to appointing an African American.
Drugs
California Eyes Mandatory Treatment for Drug Offenders
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A state bill introduced last month would establish a pilot program in one California county to require convicted substance abusers to enter “secured residential treatment facilities.” Reformers say it amounts to another form of punishment that doesn’t deal with the root causes of addiction, and cite studies showing it could lead to more opioid-related deaths.
Justice and Health
Quarantined in Unit 7D: ‘They’re Leaving Inmates There to Die’
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A diagnosis of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Jail brings an automatic sentence to a special isolation unit, where inmates say they are unable to take showers, left in freezing conditions, and are cut off from friends and family.
Policing
Who Should Investigate Police Sexual Misconduct?
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New York’s Civilian Complaint Review Board is weighing a proposal that would give it the power to probe sexual misconduct complaints against police ranging from verbal harassment to rape. Police unions counter that such complaints should be investigated internally by “trained, experienced” officials.
Prisoner Reentry
‘The Missing Link Between Jail, Rehab and Home’
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Efforts to shut down three homes for women in recovery in one Utah city highlight the challenges facing the formerly incarcerated as they struggle to resume normal life. “It’s hard for people who’ve never dealt with addiction to understand,” says Susan Berry, who moved into one of the homes following her recent release from prison.
TCR Special Reports
Massachusetts Police Reformers Warned Donations Will Dry Up
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State politicians who supported police reform and accountability measures could see future donations from law enforcement disappear. “We’re going to remember who was with us and we’re going to remember who wasn’t,” said Tom Daly, executive vice president of the New England Police Benevolent Association.
Justice and Health
A Death in a Pennsylvania Jail Exposes COVID’s Hidden Toll
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The pandemic has forced jails across the country to cut back on services like substance abuse counselling. For one inmate suffering from alcoholism and held in a Pittsburgh lockup, that proved fatal.
Policing
The Challenge of Being Black, Female—and a Cop
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In a career spanning over 30 years in law enforcement, Marilyn Thompson has had to negotiate the complicated dynamic of being a Black woman among mostly white male colleagues. She believes policing would be more compassionate — and effective — if police departments reflected their communities.