Minimize COVID-19 Transmission Risks between County and State Correctional Facilities

It is indisputable that COVID-19 has an enormously increased harmful impact on the health and lives of people in jails and prisons as compared to the general public. The most effective and humane strategy is and remains releasing as many incarcerated people as possible in order to limit exposure and contagion inside correctional institutions. Failing release, JHA supports using the transfer process laid out by IDOC to accept people from county facilities safely and responsibly. Risk to everyone’s health should be the primary consideration and the recent court order does not allow the necessary precautions to be implemented. The period of quarantine and the need to test for the virus are practices that are designed to keep everyone safe.  Release should continue to be the focus of harm reduction strategies in the face of this dangerous pandemic; undoing the other steps that minimize exposure to the virus is shortsighted and prioritizes administrative expediency over human lives and well-being.