Ms. Magazine: The Time to Act is Now: The Urgency of Ending Mass Incarceration

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Circle Bear’s story isn’t an exception to the rules; it’s one of many examples of mass incarceration causing undue harm to families and communities. Her grandmother said that Circle Bear was trying to access drug treatment, but there were no beds available close to her home. Instead of receiving adequate care, Circle Bear was sent over 1,000 miles away from her home and her young children. She wasn’t a dangerous person; on the contrary, prison was deadly for her.

“We could have saved her life,” wrote Holly Harris, President of Justice Action Network, “and instead we sent her to the deadliest place on earth right now: an American prison.”

Andrea Circle Bear was the first woman to die in federal prison from COVID-19, but she wasn’t the last. Now more than ever, it’s time for a collective effort against mass incarceration. The pandemic is so often a death sentence for incarcerated folks, and the government has done little to limit the spread of COVID-19 in jails and prisons (for example, refusing to release incarcerated people vulnerable to COVID-19 and not uniformly mandating mask-wearing in prisons). But when the pandemic ends, prisons and jails will still be dangerous places, and incarceration will still be a failed attempt at creating a safer and more supportive society.

https://msmagazine.com/2021/01/08/ending-mass-incarceration-covid-19-coronavirus-women-prison-jail/