Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, coronavirus has spread quickly through jails and prisons in cities across the country—including in Chicago, where the Cook County Jail has been one of the largest hotspots in the country. Though advocates have argued for changes in release policy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, new research from a University of Chicago scholar indicates that such release interventions are not enough.
Using data from Cook County Jail, researchers analyzed the relationship between jailing practices and community infections. They found that cycling through Cook County Jail—which accounts for the period of time from arrest to awaiting hearings and trials—is associated with 15.9% of all documented COVID-19 cases in Chicago and 15.7% of those in Illinois.
“This is the first empirical study to show that American policing practices pose an enormous public health risk during the pandemic,” said Eric Reinhart, the lead author of the study and a student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. “It is becoming clear that policing and jailing practices are driving COVID-19 spread in American communities.”
