Kids in Custody Face "Lower Level" of Health Care for COVID-19, Conference Told

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"With hundreds of young people being released from custody in response to fears about their vulnerability to the coronavirus, juvenile justice advocates are now focusing on the kids left behind.

Youths remaining in juvenile detention facilities face lower levels of access to health care if they are sickened by the virus, and should be represented by specially designated 'correctional health coordinators' in each state who can speak out for their needs, says Dr. Homer Venters, former chief medical officer for the New York City jail system."

Useful Resources - Prisons

Reports, websites and recommendations by international or region-specific associations and organisations with useful information regarding responses to COVID-19 in prison settings around the world. 

Human Rights Watch: Coronavirus

Link to Reports, News Items

Major Report: Human Rights Dimensions of COVID-19 Response


"On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that an outbreak of COVID-19 had reached global pandemic levels. In a number of countries, the outbreak exposed shortcomings in public health and social welfare protection systems, making it harder to protect at-risk populations and reduce disease transmission. In responding to this crisis, governments should prioritize the right to health for all, as well as human rights. This means prioritizing science over politics, caring for those most at risk, avoiding censorship, and limiting lockdowns. Governments should also address the special concerns of people in prisons, jails, and migrant detention centers, older people, and people with disabilities in institutions."

Why Bail Reform is Safe and Effective: The Case of Cook County

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This is a response to a critique posted March 26 entitled Does Bail Reform Increase Crime?
Link to the original study: Bail Reform in Cook County...

#Tracker-19: Live Updates of COVID-19 Impacts on Press Freedoms

"Launched by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), “Tracker 19” is a tool made for an unprecedented global crisis. So named in reference not only to Covid-19 but also article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this project aims to evaluate the pandemic’s impacts on journalism. It will document state censorship and deliberate disinformation, and their impact on the right to reliable news and information. It will also make recommendations on how to defend journalism."

Staying Home Saves Lives, Really!

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"As coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is spreading around the world, many national and local governments have imposed social restrictive measures to limit the spread of the virus. Such quarantine measures in different cities across the world have brought a new trend in public safety improvement and crime reduction. Using daily crime reports in the US and European major cities, the aim of this project is to evaluate the effects of quarantine and "shelter-in-place" policies on different crime categories. We adopt a difference in difference strategy to evaluate the change in crime rates. Early results from Oakland and San Francisco in the U.S. suggest a drop by about 40% across the communities and crime categories in both cities. While theft, homicide, and traffic accidents have fallen sharply, domestic violence incidents show no sign of reduction from our early observations. These trends although promising a glimpse of positive outcome for the community during the outbreak, may not have a lasting impact in the long term."

Do Better Prisons Reduce Recidivism? Evidence From a Prison Construction Program

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"From the US to Colombia, from India to Uganda, many inmates suffer from underprovision of services such as surveillance or rehabilitation in overcrowded prisons. Yet, we know little about how prison quality affects long-term inmate outcomes. I study a prison construction program in Colombia and find t hat quasi-random assignment of inmates to less crowded, and higher service facilities reduced recidivism. Criminal capital is an important mechanism. Less crowded and better service facilities are associated with a lower level of unsupervised criminal contact within prisons. The program led to substantial welfare gains, even when assuming a low social cost per crime."

The Coronavirus Pandemic: Canada's Response

Analysis and Commentary from Policy Options

"The coronavirus is disrupting every aspect of life in Canada as it continues its global spread. Our contributing writers share their analyses and insights on how Canadian governments, the health-care sector, businesses and citizens can best navigate the turmoil of COVID-19 as it unfolds."

Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy: COVID-19 Research and Commentary

"Read the latest COVID-19 research and commentary from faculty and researchers at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy."

Feature E-Book: Law in the time of COVID-19

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Includes chapters on prisoners' rights, the criminal justice system, immigration, privacy, LGBT rights

Speech in a Time of War

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The prominent legal scholar Geoffrey Stone reminds us that war is a perilous time for freedom of speech. The struggle with COVID-19 seems like a war. Some have evoked executive authorities created for, and justified by, wartime exigency. Unity will be needed to defeat this “invisible enemy.” How is free speech doing in this difficult time?