Why Jails Are So Important in the Fight Against Coronavirus

Picture thousands of cruise ships jammed with guests but short on hand sanitizer, protective gear and medical care. Every week, a quarter of the passengers get off, replaced by new people with the potential to either infect or be infected with the coronavirus.

There is a place like that in your community: the county jail, captained by your local elected sheriff, who is charged with preventing COVID-19 outbreaks but most likely has limited supplies and often no say in who enters and leaves the jail.

Both in large jails located in virus hotspots like New York and Seattle and in smaller jails across the country, the churn of people moving in and out threatens to accelerate the spread of the disease, endangering the incarcerated, the staff and the larger community. Some states and jurisdictions have responded by releasing prisoners or cutting jail time, but many have not.

Analysis of a of county- and jurisdiction-level jail populations built by the shows the short-term flow of people through local