Views on COVID-19 from Inside Prison: Perspectives of High-security Prisoners
Views on COVID-19 from Inside Prison: Perspectives of High-security Prisoners
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DOI：
10.1080/24751979.2020.1777578
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发表时间：
2020-01-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Useem, Bert
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Pyrooz, David C.;Labrecque, Ryan M.;Useem, Bert
被关在监狱和监狱里的人特别容易受到2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）等传染病爆发的影响。全国各地的惩教官员通过改变机构做法作出了回应，包括暂停探视和编程，以及提前释放一些囚犯。在惩教设施中，关于COVID-19的主要报道中缺少了囚犯的观点。本研究在俄勒冈州随机抽取了31名高安全级别的男性囚犯，考察他们对风险的认知和反应。2020年4月至5月期间，在私人律师室通过电话进行了深入访谈。混合方法的数据显示，受访者认为这是一个问题，当，而不是如果，疾病会蔓延到整个监狱系统，主要是由于从惩教人员的传播。然而，囚犯们并不十分担心感染这种疾病。这部分是由于他们在限制性住房中被身体和社会隔离，而在这种情况下，他们认为这是有利的。受访者认为，监狱官员正在认真对待病毒的威胁，但对他们防止疫情爆发或有效治疗受感染囚犯的能力缺乏信心。需要制定战略来减轻COVID-19在惩教设施中的传播、恐惧和后果，因为这种疾病有可能颠覆美国监狱的功能和目的。
People confined in jail and prison are especially vulnerable to outbreaks of communicable diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Corrections officials across the country have responded by shifting institutional practices, including suspending visitation and programming, as well as releasing some prisoners early. Missing from leading accounts of COVID-19 in correctional facilities are the perspectives of prisoners. This study examined perceptions of risks and responses among a random sample of 31 high-security male prisoners in Oregon. In-depth interviews were conducted by phone in private attorney rooms between April and May 2020. Mixed method data revealed that respondents felt it was a matter of when, not if, the disease would spread throughout the prison system, due primarily to transmission from correctional officers. Yet prisoners were not highly worried about contracting the disease. This was due, in part, to being physically and socially isolated in restrictive housing, which in this instance they viewed as advantageous. Respondents believed the threat of the virus was being taken seriously by prison officials but lacked confidence in their ability to prevent an outbreak or effectively treat infected prisoners. Strategies are needed to mitigate the spread, fear, and consequences of COVID-19 in correctional facilities, as this disease has the potential to upend the functions and purposes of the American prison.