A Call to Action to Public Health Institutions and Teaching to Incorporate Mass Incarceration as a Sociostructural Determinant of Health

Mass incarceration refers to the system of social and racial control in the United States that arrests, convicts, incarcerates, and supervises racial and ethnic minority populations through probation and parole. Mass incarceration is referred to as “mass” because the current size of this system in the United States is historically and internationally unparalleled. Mass incarceration affects those who are incarcerated and under community supervision, as well as the families and communities where it is concentrated. Mass incarceration is a pervasive cause of health inequities in the United States

Policy and public communication methods among U.S. state prisons during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, our research team monitored and documented policy changes in United States (U.S.) prison systems. Data sources included prison websites and official prison social media accounts. Over 2500 data sources relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic in U.S. prisons were located and summarized in to five different categories: 1) prevention, 2) case identification and intervention, 3) movement, 4) social communication and connection, and 5) programming, recreation, and privileges. Results: All state prison systems reportedly enacted multiple policies intended to limit the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic. Document analysis revealed that the most commonly released policies were restrictions on social contacts and privileges, basic preventive measures (e.g., distribution of masks), and basic case identification measures (e.g., verbal screening and temperature checks). Utilization of social media for policy communication varied significantly across states, though relevant data was more often released on Facebook than Twitter. Conclusions: Together, our work provides foundational knowledge on the wide breadth of policies that were reportedly enacted in the first year of the pandemic that may be used as a base for quantitative work on policy effectiveness and examinations of implementation