UCLA Law
COVID Behind Bars Data Project
We collect and analyze public information about the coronavirus pandemic in prisons, jails, youth facilities, and immigration detention centers across the United States. Our centralized source of data enables greater oversight of and accountability for carceral institutions’ responses to the pandemic behind bars. We also record legal and community responses to the crisis, including mass releases, legal filings, court orders, and organizing efforts.
Since the start of the pandemic, prisons and ICE detention centers across the U.S. have reported at least:
534,574
total cumulative cases among incarcerated people
2,973
total cumulative deaths among incarcerated people
181,972
total cumulative cases among staff
297
total cumulative deaths among staff
Showing in carceral facilities
Each spike represents the number incarcerated people who currently have COVID-19
1
470
940
This map displays reported COVID-19 cases and related deaths of people incarcerated in carceral facilities across the US. Click on a state to access more data.
Rates and active cases are not available for all facilities. Learn why.
Facilities with the highest
| Cumulative Cases | Active Cases | Cumulative Deaths | Tests | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Facility | Count | Per 10k | Count | Per 10k | Count | Per 10k | Count | Per 10k | |
Yazoo City Federal Correctional Complex | 1,573 | 3,908 | 936 | 2,325 | 5 | 12 | -- | -- | |
Wasco State Prison | 3,586 | 7,816 | 664 | 1,447 | 2 | 4 | -- | -- | |
Menard Correctional Center | 1,156 | 6,303 | 605 | 3,299 | -- | -- | 88,435 | 482,197 | |
Western Illinois Correctional Center | 854 | 5,230 | 600 | 3,674 | -- | -- | 33,917 | 207,697 | |
Faribault Correctional Facility | 1,794 | 9,038 | 598 | 3,013 | 8 | 40 | 44,118 | 222,257 | |
COVID-19 Vaccines in State and Federal Prisons
This table reflects data publicly reported by state and federal correctional agencies about the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to incarcerated people and staff in their facilities. The data reported here generally refer to people who have received at least one dose of a vaccine. There are some exceptions, noted with a flag, when agencies report only the number of people who have completed their vaccination schedules, and not the number of people partially vaccinated. Staff are generally not required to report their vaccination status to their employers, so the total numbers of staff who are vaccinated may be higher.
View our data on Github| Jurisdiction | Vaccination Rate for Incarcerated People | Vaccination Rate for Staff Members |
|---|---|---|
| 102% | 66% | |
| 93% | 49% | |
| 89% | 51% | |
| 88% | 82% | |
| 86% | -- | |
Showing among
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Recent Updates
January 11th, 2022
New report shows prison releases decreased during the pandemic, despite a drop in incarceration
Last month, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report showing that state and federal prison populations dropped nearly 15 percent from 2019 to 2020. During the same time, however, the number of people released from prison also dropped, by nearly 10 percent.
November 23rd, 2021
“Horrible here”: how systemic failures of transparency have hidden the impacts of COVID-19 on incarcerated women
In this report, we highlight trends from inside women’s prisons during the pandemic and draw attention to the lack of transparency from carceral agencies regarding COVID-19 in their women’s facilities. By sharing personal accounts drawn from the first-person oral history archive created by UCI PrisonPandemic, we also seek to elevate the voices and experiences of some of the women behind the data we present.
November 17th, 2021
COVID-19 vaccination data in California jails: lessons from an imperfect model
California is one of only three states where a state agency, the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC), has been tasked with collecting, aggregating, and reporting COVID-19 data from local jails. However, the BSCC's data are missing key information, such as the numbers of incarcerated people and staff who have been vaccinated. In this report, the Covid In-Custody Project shares some of its primary concerns with the BSCC's data collection efforts and with the vaccination data the project has collected directly from county jails.
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