The Guardian: Pregnant inmates languish in US prisons despite promises of release
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In a rare moment of political consensus, Americans across the ideological spectrum condemned the systemic failings that preceded Circle Bear’s death. Their outcry arose amid a larger bipartisan battle for criminal justice reform; for years now, decarceration has been one of the few platforms that has generally appealed to a large swath of the country.
“The pandemic shows exactly why it’s counterproductive to have mass incarceration,” said Inimai M Chettiar, the legislative and policy director at Justice Action Network. “When people don’t need to be in prison, things get worse. They don’t get better.”