We have all seen the freeway signs: “Salt Lake County High COVID Transmission … Limit Gatherings and Wear a Mask.” The recommendation is a simple one, and yet it is not being followed by our own state government.
The Utah State Prison is inhabited by about 4,300 people according to the prison’s website. The Utah Department of Corrections claims that “the safety of incarcerated individuals … is paramount.” Despite this, they have reported 1,714 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
This comes out to 39% of the Utah State Prison population testing positive for COVID-19. If the general population of Utah shared this positivity rate, then the state would have 1.25 million positive cases of COVID-19! The Utah State Prison population is contracting the virus at four times the rate as the general population, according to Utah State Prison statistics.
The conditions within the Utah State Prison obviously do not allow for the COVID precautions touted by Utah’s freeway PSAs.
One of many ways to alleviate the prevalence of COVID in Utah’s correctional facilities would be to suspend bail payments. Bail requirements place an unfair burden on poor people and with COVID they effectively punish these people with heightened chances at contracting a deadly virus.
There are ways to alleviate this situation (beyond the bail recommendation), and the statistics show they are needed if the state truly cares about COVID precautions.
Franklin Louis De Jong, Salt Lake City
