Covid prison infection and death rates are higher than the national average for non-incarcerated individuals.

  Through out the pandemic people have been getting sick from the highly contagious COVID-19 virus.  Although we know what is happening outside of prisons, some people are digging deeper and figuring out what is happening inside of these prison facilities.

Although some people in prison have committed tough crimes no one in prison deserves to die unnecessarily. Incarcerated individuals should be able to get the same treatment as those who are not in prison; they don’t deserve less for something that they did not ask for.  To begin with, the Covid infection and deaths inside of the prisons across the US are 5.5 times higher than those who are not in prison.  Reported by CBS Denver on November 5, 742 incarcerated people have tested positive in a Denver facility.  Although these numbers seem low, an anonymous inmate said, “Were always worried about getting sick” and he said other inmates tested but never knew the results of their tests.

Additionally, the goal of the prison is to rehabilitate the prisoners.  A study in 2018 by NSW reoffending database says that 42.2% of adult prisoners are re-convicted within 12 months, and for juveniles its 64.2%.  This highlights how the prisons need to changed in order to provide better conditions, having healthcare is something that can improve the prisoners’ lives.

Prisoners have high rates of mental disorders.  Prisoners who have this issues are disregarded as what are they regarded as? -reported by the Department of Justice talking to the Lowell Sun. We can’t disregard covid, too?

Some people have asked, why waste our healthcare resources on convicted criminals?

Although only 2 to 10 percent of criminals are wrongfully convicted, this amounts to 2.3 million people inside the prison system who are innocent.  This means that we should take care of the 2.3 million people who are in prison.

To conclude, prisoners deserve better health care because it has been proven that it helps them not getting re-convicted.  This would help the prison system achieve its purpose effectively instead of just releasing after sentences. Prisoners should be getting better healthcare especially if it isn’t self-inflicted.  Everyone deserves healthcare. No one deserves to die unnecessarily.  The effects of better healthcare in prisons may not be immediate but it will help us all down the line.