Views on COVID-19 from Inside Prison: Perspectives of High-security Prisoners

Abstract

People confined in jail and prison are especially vulnerable to outbreaks of communicable diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Corrections officials across the country have responded by shifting institutional practices, including suspending visitation and programming, as well as releasing some prisoners early. Missing from leading accounts of COVID-19 in correctional facilities are the perspectives of prisoners. This study examined perceptions of risks and responses among a random sample of 31 high-security male prisoners in Oregon. In-depth interviews were conducted by phone in private attorney rooms between April and May 2020. Mixed method data revealed that respondents felt it was a matter of when, not if, the disease would spread throughout the prison system, due primarily to transmission from correctional officers. Yet prisoners were not highly worried about contracting the disease. This was due, in part, to being physically and socially isolated in restrictive housing, which in this instance they viewed as advantageous. Respondents believed the threat of the virus was being taken seriously by prison officials but lacked confidence in their ability to prevent an outbreak or effectively treat infected prisoners. Strategies are needed to mitigate the spread, fear, and consequences of COVID-19 in correctional facilities, as this disease has the potential to upend the functions and purposes of the American prison.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• prisons
• survey research

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the administrators, correctional officers, support staff, and respondents from the Oregon Department of Corrections for their assistance in making this research possible. Research reported in this publication was funded by the Charles Koch Foundation. It was also supported by a pilot grant from the Developmental Core of University of Colorado Population Center (CUPC), which is supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P2CHD066613. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Oregon Department of Corrections, the Charles Koch Foundation, or the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 https://www.acluohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2020-04-13-001-Petition-for-Writ-of-Habeas-Corpus-1.pdf

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David C. Pyrooz

David C. Pyrooz, PhD, is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. He focuses his research on incarceration and reentry, criminal justice practice and policy, and criminal groups. He is the author of Competing for Control: Gangs and the Social Order of Prisons (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Ryan M. Labrecque

Ryan M. Labrecque, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. His research focuses on the evaluation of correctional interventions, the effects of prison life, the development of risk and needs assessments for community and institutional corrections settings, and the transfer of knowledge to practitioners and policy makers. His work has appeared in Crime and Delinquency; Criminal Justice and Behavior; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law; The Prison Journal; and Violence and Victims.

Jennifer J. Tostlebe

Jennifer J. Tostlebe, MS, is a doctoral Student in Sociology and a graduate affiliate of the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She received her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies in Criminology and Criminal Justice and her MS in Sociology from Iowa State University. Her research interests focus on incarceration and reentry, mental health, social support, and gangs and criminal networks. Her work has appeared in Homicide Studies, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, and the Journal of Criminal Psychology.

Bert Useem

Bert Useem, PhD, is a professor of sociology at the Purdue University. He studies prisons and social movements. He is the author of States of Siege: US Prison Riots, 1971–1986 (Oxford University Press, 1989), Resolution of Prison Riots: Strategy and Policies (Oxford University Press, 1996), and Prison State: The Challenge of Mass Incarceration (Cambridge University Press, 2008).