Send a letter directly via email to Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony to stop the spread of COVID-19 behind bars. Currently our community members in Broward Jails are being put into isolation if they experience COVID-19 symptoms which does two things: 1) it does not reduce the spread of COVID-19 amongst staff or insiders and 2) it unfairly penalizes insiders in the jail system.

According to the New York Times COVID-19 Case Tracker, in mid-August 84 of the top 100 COVID-19 outbreak hotspots in the country were prisons and jails. Fifteen of them were located in Florida’s incarceration system alone.

Research from Johns Hopkins and UCLA showed insiders are 550% more likely to catch COVID-19, and 300% more likely to die from it than the general population.

We are asking Sheriff Gregory Tony to step up and implement numerous COVID-19 protocols to include the testing and vaccination of our inside community members and all staff. Per an ACLU lawsuit filed against Sheriff Tony the four correctional facilities under his care exacerbate the risk of infection and death by COVID-19 in Broward County.

"Preventing the Broward County Jail outbreak from growing worse not only will protect those who live and work at the jail, but will also protect the community at large. Jails are not hermetically sealed. Every day, custody, health care and civilian staff who have direct contact with prisoners enter and leave the facilities. For this reason, failing to prevent and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 endangers not only those within the institution, but the entire community. "

This disregard for insider safety by Sheriff Gregory Tony poses a public health risk to our inside community members and our community at large, is deeply immoral for sentencing unfairly our community members to sickness or death, and lastly it is cruel and has no place in a civilized society.

Because over 2,000 people have died in U.S. Prisons and Jails due to COVID-19 we are also calling for Mass Clemency on February 1st also known as #NationalFreedomDay.

Works cited:

https://www.aclufl.org/sites/default/files/001_barnett_v._tony_petition-complaint.pdf

https://www.wlrn.org/2020-10-30/covid-19-in-jails-one-broward-inmates-experience-with-the-virus

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html#clusters

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15mLvFnuugsn-2CsIQQu-If-KeMjaJISOBFKVesBHsmE/edit#gid=0

#CagingCOVID #ClemencyWorks #NationInside #FightToxicPrisons #AbolitionNow #FreeEmAll #NationalFreedomDay