'It's an existing public health nightmare, and then you add a pandemic that requires social distance and sanitation — it's a powder keg,' an inmate advocate said.
, particularly Rikers Island. Inmates are restricted to small cells in sometimes crowded conditions and with limited cleaning supplies; former prisoners and advocates told BuzzFeed News the conditions are ripe for a widespread outbreak, and they worry the limited health care resources available to inmates will quickly be overwhelmed.
Khan went through the experience himself in 2015, he said, when he spent three days experiencing hot and cold flashes in his cell, shivering and unable to keep any food down. For her husband, isolation from the general population meant losing privileges, access to the small number of personal belongings he had, and, worst of all, the daily phone calls he makes to her.
Fears of being isolated are widespread among inmates, said Elle, whose fiancé is at San Quentin State Prison and who asked to be identified by his first name out of fear that he could face reprisal. At many facilities, visitation has been canceled to prevent the spread of the virus, leaving inmates with one fewer line to the outside world.
"It's an existing public health nightmare, and then you add a pandemic that requires social distance and sanitation — it's a powder keg," she said."It's a terrifying situation." "Right now there are not a lot of cases being reported, but this is how it starts," he said."it starts with a few.""They know this is a crisis, and they know this is coming," Chatfield with the Justice Collaborative said."It's impossible to social distance a sheriff's deputy or a correctional officer who moves people from one cell to another or a cafeteria. People are being touched in proximity constantly.
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