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Resources

Advocacy

  • American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina

    Press release and Letters sent to criminal justice stalkeholders with action item lists

  • #CagingCOVID

    Campaign to shine a light on mass incarceration in a time of a public health crisis, and apply pressure to use parole, clemency and decarceration at local and federal levels to stop the spread of the virus behind bars

  • Coalition for Public Safety/US Justice Action Network

    Sending system response updates via their listserv

  • Correctional Association of New York

    Website dedicated to COVID-19 in NY prisons. Includes a link to a survey for friends and family members of people in NY prisons.

  • Families Belong Together + Amnesty International Coalition

    5/14 call notes of upcoming actions and resources for grassroots organizers

  • Immigrant Legal Resource Center

    List of recommendations that advocates can use to demand responsible releases.

  • Mourning Our Losses

    Toolkit to Urge State Leaders to Grant Emergency Releases and Guarantee Early & Ongoing Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine for Incarcerated People.

  • National Council For Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls

    Non-profit organization working to end incarceration of women and girls. Online platform providing general resources for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls, as well as COVID-19 related resources and campaigns.

  • No Kids in Prison

    Landing page chronicling 36 state campaigns demanding governors, juvenile justice system administrators, and other state and local officials authorize the release of detained and incarcerated youth and halt new admissions to protect youth from the spread of COVID-19.

  • Parole Preparation Project

    Webpage outlining the Parole Preparation Project's COVID-19 response

  • Prison Advocacy Network

    COVID-19 in CDCR: Survey for people outside to share what they are hearing from people inside

  • Root & Rebound

    In response to COVID-19, Root & Rebound set up a Google Group listserv for California criminal justice advocates & services providers focused on serving justice-impacted people, including currently and formerly incarcerated people -- to share and coordinate advocacy efforts in response to COVID-19 on the local and state levels that impact currently and formerly incarcerated people and people with any kind of justice system involvement. This listserv is intended to be a space for all of us to share asks for advocacy support in signing onto different actions, and to share resources that will support justice-impacted communities throughout this pandemic. Listserv available -- email stonnesen@rootandrebound.org to be added

Advocacy/Legal Tools

Government

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

    CDC's "Interim Guidance on Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Correctional and Detention Facilities" -- comprehensive guidelines and recommendations

  • Council for Penological Co-opperation

    COVID-19 related statement issued on Friday 17 April 2020. Outline the current strategy of the Council for Penological Co-opperation and provides useful links to initiatives taken by other parts of the Council of Europe including the CPT

  • National Confrence of State Legislatures

    Webpage providing a list of resources that details action being taken by courts, law enforcement, state and local agencies and other civil and criminal justice stakeholders

  • NYC Board of Correction

    The NYC BOC's main COVID-19 webpage. Includes the BOC's response plan, its daily reports on COVID-19 in the New York City jail system, and other government documents and resources.

  • Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General

    Correctional services updates on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic in Ontario, Canada

  • Taylor Scott Pendergrass

    Executive orders and statewide action on decarceration

  • World Health Organization

    The UNODC, WHO, UNAIDS and OHCHR's joint statement on COVID-19 in prisons and other closed settings

Informational

  • Alliance for Higher Education in Prison

    The Alliance is tracking resources produced for/by/on behalf of higher edcuation in prison programs across the country

  • Amend

    Guidance document for jail and prison administrators regarding cohorting, population reduction, testing, and information sharing (04/26/20)

  • American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts

    Data tracker showing infections among prison and jail staff and incarcerated persons in Massachusetts

  • Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse

    Database tracking COVID-19 litigation and a collection of COVID-19 court orders directing releases and other responses. Contact Margo Schlanger, University of Michigan Law School

  • Columbia Law School

    Chapter 1, "COVID-19 and Prisoners' Rights," discusses potential avenues for detained persons and their lawyers seeking to use the legal system to obtain relief, including potential release, during this extraordinary, unprecedented crisis. From Law in the Time of COVID-19 by Katharina Pistor (2020).

  • COVID Prison Project

    Project that tracks data and policy across the country to monitor COVID-19 in correctional facilities. Offers analysis and resources to better understand how coronavirus is impacting justice-involved individuals, and focuses on data collection and analysis using a public health-oriented framework
    Links:

  • Duke Law Center of Science and Justice

    CSJ Blog post on state prison responses to COVID-19 (Last update: May 12)

  • Duke Law Center of Science and Justice

    National resources, coverage, and policies on COVID-19 and criminal justice

  • Duke Law Center of Science and Justice

    Running repository of news coverage, court orders, filings, letters, and policy regarding North Carolina COVID-19 response in the criminal system

  • Fair and Just Project

    Webpage dedicated to the intersecting challenges of COVID-19 and mass incarceration with resources, facts and trendlines, advocacy efforts, and other first-hand accounts of the impact of the current pandemic

  • Human Rights Watch

    Report articulating standards for jail and prison conditions that promote human rights and public health, as well as recommendations for how to safely achieve those standards. It also maps the various system decision-makers and recommends steps that they should take to insure the health and safety of incarcerated people.

  • Immigrant Legal Resource Center

    Webpage providing information and resources on how COVID-19 is affecting immigrant communities

  • International Corrections & Prisons Association

    Special issue of the newsletter of the International Experts Network on Prison Oversight that includes guidance from oversight practitioners around the world on how they are managing their oversight responsibilities during the COVID crisis.

  • Justice Project Pakistan

    Running spreadsheet of the number of COVID+ prisoners and deaths worldwide

  • Justice Project Pakistan

    Links to updated statistics on COVID-19+ in jails and prisons

  • Law and Society Association

    Compilation of resources about COVID-19 as it relates to prisons, jails, and the people who live and work therein. Post from the official blog of the Law and Society Association's Collaborative Research Network 27: Punishment and Society

  • Law Enforcement Action Partnership

    Webinar, list of examples of leading criminal justice responses across the sequential intercept model

  • LBJ School (University of Texas at Austin)

    Recommended Strategies for Sheriffs and Jails to Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis (written by Michele Deitch, lecturer at LBJ School of Public Affairs)

  • Legal Aid NYC

    COVID-19 Infection Tracking in NYC Jails

  • Marshall Project

    Tracking prisons' responses to Coronavirus

  • Measures for Justice

    Study analyzing the effect of the number of people sentenced to incarceration (jail or prison) in 2015 on the concentration of COVID-19 cases between March 15 and May 11 of 2020 at the census tract level in Milwaukee. Preliminary results show that the number of incarcerations is a strong predictor of the number of COVID-19 cases above and beyond the effect of minority. Gipsy Escobar, Ph.D., and Sema Taheri, M.A. (2020)

  • National Commission on Correctional Healthcare (NCCHC)

    Link to COVID-19 Resources and Guidance page. NCCHC is currently working on "Study of COVID-19 in Correctional Facilities" with researchers from Harvard University; only jails, prisons, and juvenile facilities in U.S. eligible to participate; link to request survey link and password: https://www.ncchc.org/study-of-covid-19-in-correctional-facilities. See main Resources and Guidance page for links to Q & A page and downloadable materials

  • NY State Department of Corrections and Community Security (DOCCS)

    Reports confirmed cases/deaths and information about the DOCCS COVID-19 response.

  • NYC Board of Corrections

    Website cataloging the NYC Board of Correction's monitoring and oversight work during the COVID-19 crisis. Includes daily updates of COVID spread, time-series data, and observational reports published by the Board.

  • NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management

    Litmus program report that provides guidance to agencies supporting rapid release from incarceration and community reentry in response to COVID-19 and, in the foreseeable future, facing budget shortfalls

  • NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management

    Litmus team generated a census of state adult correctional and detention facilities and created an interactive mapping tool that uses publicly available, county-level data from the New York Times on numbers of confirmed cases and deaths, updated daily, to indicate which facilities are located in or near counties that appear to be at high risk for community transmission

  • Ontario Data Catalogue

    Dataset that compiles daily snapshots of reported data on 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in Ontario's Provincial Correctional Institutions; includes reporting date, institution name, confirmed cases

  • Ontario Data Catalogue

    Dataset that compiles daily snapshots of reported data on 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in Ontario's Provincial Correctional Institutions; includes reporting date, region, tests completed, test outcomes

  • Policing Project (NYU School of Law)

    5/20 article providing outlines and suggested guidlines for stay-at-home and social distancing enforcement

  • Policing Project (NYU School of Law)

    5/20 article suggesting strategies and tips for community engagement during and after the COVID-19 crisis

  • PRILA Research Group (Trinity College Dublin)

    Set of recommendations for governments/prison authorities to ensure health and human rights of all those in prisons are upheld during the COVID-19 health crisis

  • Prison Policy Initiative

    List of the most meaningful policy responses that jails, prisons, and other criminal justice agencies have taken so far to address COVID-19, along with other resources

  • Prison Policy Initiative

    Landing page to a spreadsheet showing what each state DOC has chosen to tell the public about its virus response plan.

  • Prison Policy Initiative

    Article comparing jail and prison population reduction measures with data spanning approx. 800 counties and 12 states

  • Santa Rita Jail COVID-19 Data Tracker

    Records daily reports from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office about COVID-19 case and testing numbers in the Santa Rita Jail.

  • The Brennan Center

    Resource page compiling the formal policy responses from all levels of the criminal justice system to address the Covid-19 public health crisis

  • The Justice Collaborative

    COVID-19 Response & Resources - includes map tracking policy shifts around covid-19 at federal, state, and local levels nationwide

  • The Justice Collaborative

    COVID-19 Policy Shifts Map - tracks policy shifts related to covid-19 at federal, state and local levels nationwide (also available at more general TJC covid-19 resource page above)

  • The Sentencing Project

    Page that shows the growth of COVID-19 positive diagnoses among youth and staff at juvenile facilities and the number of known cases in each state (updated daily)

  • UCLA Law

    A running list of trackers and useful resources around the current covid-19 crisis and response

  • University of Pennsylvania (Political Science Department)

    "The Pardoning Power Can Help Fight COVID-19. But We Need Governors to Put Aside Their Political Concerns" written by Kalind Parish

  • Urban Institute

    Living document of COVID-19 resources for corrections, updating on a daily basis.

  • Vera Institute of Justice

    Jail populations trends (total number incarcerated, covid deaths, # of covid cases)

Legal Tools

  • American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts

    Appendix of cases across the country to attach to any motions that you are filing. This was last updated on 3/30

  • Bronx Defenders

    Open-source doc developed by Thomas Scott-Railton of Bronx Defenders -- intended solely for attorneys who share common legal interest of advocating for or bringing lawsuits on behalf of individuals whose detention is unlawful in light of the imminent risk of grave harm due to COVID-19

  • Detention Watch Network

    Toolkit to Support Local Demands for Mass Release of People in ICE Custody

  • Detention Watch Network

    Working toolkit to help guide and support the work of organizations and individuals looking to demand the release of people in ICE custody.

  • Incarceration and the Law

    List resources about COVID-19 and jails and prisons. Includes links to case documents, news coverage, release requests and decisions, best practices, and more.

  • NYU Center on the Administration of Criminal Law

    Spreadsheet on gubernatorial reprieve powers across the fifty states

  • Pennsylvania Prison Society

    Landing page that includes updates and resources on COVID-19, as well as 2 interactive PA County maps that monitor COVID-19 cases in state/county prisons and changes in the state's prison population, respectively

  • Prison Advocacy Network

    Regularly updated website of PAN's response to COVID-19, along with resource guides for writing appeals to request release or challenge conditions to due COVID-19. Survey for people on the inside: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sEvekH2MgL72gwode7BRk-f-w5iDmyXlh4GZTOzu6ic/edit#heading=h.9q7it6mk6k9z

  • Prison Advocacy Network

    List of important prison and court forms and contact information for people in prison and their families

  • Prison Advocacy Network

    Bluebooked List of COVID-19 Cases and Sources By Jurisdiction

  • Prison Advocacy Network

    Summaries of Plata and Coleman case filings

  • Prison Advocacy Network

    CDCR, Court, and Attorney Contacts For COVID-19

  • Rapid Defense Network

    Collection of COVID-19 related litigation

  • Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP

    Access to RBGG's files for COVID-19 Briefing and Orders in AZ, CA, IL, LA, MI

  • Thomas Scott-Railton

    Information on COVID-19 in jails in prisons, including recent court decisions, template motions, confirmed cases, jurisdictions that are doing mass releases, and cites to medical sources on heightened risk for preexisting mental and physical health conditions

  • UCLA Law

    Spreadsheet of statutory release powers in the fifty states; contact Aaron Littman (littman@law.ucla.edu) if you have any other cites to add