{"id":12994,"date":"2021-12-16T09:20:36","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/?p=12994"},"modified":"2026-01-21T15:36:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:36:41","slug":"covid_data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/2021\/12\/16\/covid_data\/","title":{"rendered":"Since you asked: What information is available about COVID-19 and vaccinations in prison now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nEarly in the COVID-19 pandemic, prison systems throughout the country began publishing COVID-19 data, lifting a tiny corner of the veil of secrecy that usually shields prisons from public scrutiny. These “COVID data dashboards” — which varied from state to state, but generally at least tracked the number of active cases, testing efforts, and COVID-19 deaths — marked a departure from the outdated, obscure data we usually see coming out of prison systems and state and federal agencies<\/a>. However, the quality and comprehensiveness of the published data varied from state to state, and dashboards were often riddled with inadequacies and confusion<\/a>. To make matters worse, even as the Delta variant surged through the country in the summer of 2021, the UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project<\/i> reported<\/a> that a number of states — including those with some of the highest case rates<\/a>, like Florida and Georgia — had rolled back their publicly available prison data. \n<\/p>\n

\nNow that we’re facing yet another COVID-19 threat with the Omicron variant<\/a>, many of these states have reinitiated data reporting on the number of COVID-19 cases and tests behind bars. And yet, data on COVID-19 vaccinations and booster doses<\/a> — our strongest protection <\/a>in the face of COVID-19 — are scarce and incomplete across the nation’s prison systems. Publicly available and regularly updated COVID-19 prison data — including vaccination and booster data — are crucial for holding public officials, politicians, and legislatures accountable, as well as for helping families and the general public obtain even the simplest information about COVID-19 in their loved ones’ facilities and local communities.\n<\/p>\n

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Most state prison systems provide patchy COVID-19 data, at best<\/h2>\n

\nIn July 2021, the UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project<\/i><\/a> reported<\/a> a startling trend: Many state correctional agencies were failing to regularly update their COVID-19 data, including lags of 58 days in Florida, 40 days in New Jersey, and more than two weeks in Wyoming, New Hampshire, Utah, Mississippi, Alaska, and Montana. Massachusetts and Rhode Island announced that they would no longer be updating their COVID-19 prison data dashboards. A month later, in August 2021, UCLA found<\/a> that Florida and Georgia had completely removed their COVID-19 data dashboards, while Louisiana drastically reduced its published data to only include active case counts.1<\/a><\/sup>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn fact, patchy and delayed prison COVID-19 data has become the norm, not the exception. As of December 14, 2021, 8 state correctional agencies have COVID-19 data dashboards that have not <\/i>been updated in the last week. The DOC COVID-19 dashboard in Montana has not been updated for 88 days so far, and it’s been 25 days in Mississippi, 14 days in Tennessee, 12 days in North Carolina, 11 days in Alabama and New York, 9 days in Alaska, and 8 days in Oregon. An additional four states’ DOC COVID-19 dashboards — Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, and Oklahoma — appear to be updated frequently but have no consistent information about when they last updated the data, leaving us unsure of how accurate and relevant the data are. West Virginia updates most of their COVID-19 data regularly, but their vaccination data are from November 5th, 2021, 39 days ago.\n<\/p>\n

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Even when they do update their dashboards, most states fail to report crucial information. <\/h2>\n

\nThere are five major metrics that states should be tracking and publishing:\n<\/p>\n