2020-05-05

During his press conference today, Governor Andy Beshear announced that 309 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Green River Correctional Complex in Central Kentucky. Three weeks ago, Green River inmates voiced their concerns about the lack of cleaning, masks, and hand sanitizer, and about an inability to properly separate sick men from the rest of the population because of the absence of available space. And so today Kentucky officially became part of a national statistic: In the United States, prisons and jails have become epicenters in the coronavirus pandemic. Plagued by chronic underfunding, lack of staff, and severe overpopulation, our prisons and jails house people who are made invisible and considered expendable, a population that becomes especially vulnerable in a global health crisis. Today, it rained all day in Lexington. It was day 51 since social distancing became our new normal. Today, like yesterday and the day before, many found comfort in the people closest to them. And in four-legged companions.