{"id":10509,"date":"2020-08-14T10:11:39","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T14:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/?p=10509"},"modified":"2020-09-28T14:12:49","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T18:12:49","slug":"masks-in-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/14\/masks-in-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"Half of states fail to require mask use by correctional staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

The best way to slow the spread of COVID-19 in state prisons is to reduce the population density, but as we’ve found<\/a>, states are moving far too slowly in this regard. In this new analysis, we find that states are also failing at the most modest mitigation efforts imaginable: requiring correctional staff and incarcerated people to wear masks.<\/p>\n

Almost all states1<\/a><\/sup> are distributing masks to staff and incarcerated people,2<\/a><\/sup> but only half of all states are requiring that staff wear the masks at work. We examined the policies of each state’s Department of Corrections to see which states are requiring masks for staff.<\/p>\n

\n\"Map\n<\/picture>30 states currently require correctional facility staff to wear face masks, while 20 states and the District of Columbia do not. Map updated on August 24, 2020 following a report from the South Carolina Department of Corrections that they are requiring staff to wear masks, although no policy requiring masks is available to the public. (Data collected by the Prison Policy Initiative from Departments of Corrections policies and news reports.)<\/p>\n

Just because states require the use of masks by staff does not mean that the policy is adequately enforced. There have been a number of reports from incarcerated people that correctional staff have not been wearing masks appropriately when interacting with those who are in custody. In Arkansas, masks are required for staff, but an internal email<\/a> from the state’s highest corrections official to the wardens of each prison in the state reveals that “hospitals are not wanting to treat our inmates because our staff are not following the [mask] guidelines that we are sending out.”3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Of course, even in states where masks are not required by correctional policy, staff can choose<\/i> to wear them. But reports from incarcerated people and their families suggest this is wishful thinking. For example, in New Jersey<\/a> — a state where the COVID-19 pandemic hit prisons early and hard<\/a> — staff are not required to wear masks and reports from inside say that many staff are not wearing masks.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

As we all know by now, the federal government’s February guidance<\/a> discouraging masks quickly proved to be misguided, and the most current research<\/a> makes it even clearer that masks benefit both the wearer and<\/i> everyone else.<\/p>\n

Wearing masks protects the public:<\/p>\n