Addressing the Public Health Crisis of U.S. Carceral Facilities:An Integrated and Equitable Approach

Lead Authors: David J. Knight and Benjamin A. Barsky, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University (Contributing Author)

COVID-19 has magnified the persistent public health crises and racial inequities that are inherent to mass incarceration and most clearly laid bare in the nation’s jails and prison. An important source of these crises is the carving out of those within jails and prisons from the U.S. safety net. Legislators and policymakers made a grave error with this decision, the repercussions of which we live with to this day. If we are to build back better in the wake of COVID-19, stakeholders at the local, state, and federal levels—notably the Biden Administration—should work to change the state’s relationship to those who are directly impacted by incarceration. This change reflects a transition in the administration of justice from a principle of alienation and separation to a principle of association, an approach now considered by experts to be an international best practice. This policy transition should occur along two parallel tracks: (1) decarceration to enable those in prison to return to their families and communities; and (2) creation of key policies and federal incentives that fully incorporate those impacted by incarceration and felony conviction into the social safety net. The active pursuit of both aims is an ethical and public health necessity, in addition to being an imperative of antiracism.