May 2023 marked the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency. At that time, many states shifted to viewing the disease as endemic and away from conducting ongoing COVID monitoring in jails and prisons. Since our last COVID Scorecard data update, 15 states have ceased reporting any COVID data at all, leaving only eight remaining.¹ This round of analysis also revealed a further a worrisome trend: in addition to halting public reporting of COVID-19 rates, an increasing number of states have entirely removed their previously-reported data from their websites, further undermining transparency and obstructing accountability.  

One notable example is Washington. In the first quarter of 2023, Washington received a passing grade on our COVID Scorecard. Our analysis found that the WA Department of Corrections provided valuable data often omitted from other states regularly reporting COVID statistics, including prisoner vaccination rates and historical data trends. However, since June 1, 2023, the WA DOC has not only ceased reporting COVID-19 infection rates but has also removed all previous data from its website. Nor was Washington alone in adopting this approach. ICE also removed from its website the historical COVID data for its detention centers, as did state prison systems in the following states:

• Alaska
• Maine 
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• New Mexico
• New York
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• Texas
• Wisconsin

To justify calling a halt to publicly reporting its current COVID data, the Wisconsin DOC cited the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, low positive test rates, and low serious illness rates. Perhaps anticipating public criticism of this move, several states, including Wisconsin, Alaska, Maine and Rhode Island, have stated that their COVID-19 data will be provided upon request. But this approach creates an unnecessary hurdle for those wishing to access data that had previously been publicly available on DOC websites. It also—unfortunately—reflects a return to form in a regulatory context in which secrecy is the norm and the public posting of COVID data was historically anomalous.  

One striking finding of our analysis this round is the vast discrepancy in infection rates among facilities in those states still reporting data. In the last week alone, several states—among them Colorado, Massachusetts, Alabama, and Hawaii—report zero or near zero staff and prisoner infection rates. In contrast, Nevada reported 40 active prisoner cases and 16 staff cases. Illinois reported 31 active prisoner cases, and California reported 66 prisoner cases and averaged roughly 100 infections per week mid-September to mid-October.

As has been true since corrections agencies began reporting data, it is impossible to know if these state DOCs are testing broadly and thus how closely the posted data reflect the reality on the ground. Still, the discrepancies these data present demonstrate the need for continued data transparency; with COVID still present in jails and prisons, it is vital that all stakeholders have real-time access to as much information as possible regarding COVID infection and spread. 

Ongoing accountability and transparency from carceral agencies are necessary to ensure the humane treatment of incarcerated individuals regardless of whether society is navigating a pandemic. Yet the ebbing of COVID data reporting revealed in our latest Scorecard makes clear that, absent outside pressure, corrections agencies will readily revert to their ingrained impulses to secrecy and obfuscation. We expect more facilities to cease reporting, but will continue to push for greater data transparency, not only as to the COVID metrics our Scorecard covers, but as to all aspects of the carceral experience bearing on the health and safety of those who live and work inside. 

The COVID Public Health Emergency may be over, but the public health threat carceral institutions pose persists. Data transparency will not alone guarantee accountability, but accountability is impossible without it.

Carceral Agency Scores