America’s prison system is becoming more inhumane

THE INMATES at Logan Correctional Centre, a women’s prison in rural Illinois, have to endure a lot. The kitchens are infested with cockroaches. The ceilings are crumbling. Many of the buildings are full of black mould. The showers and toilets often break down, and the plumbing occasionally backs up, pumping sewage onto the floors. According to Lauren Stumblingbear, a 36-year-old former inmate who was released last July after serving nearly a decade for taking part in an armed robbery, perhaps craziest of all were the raccoons. The critters were living in the housing unit of the prison, she says. “They would come down through holes in the ceiling.”

From March of 2020, however, even the raccoons seemed mild compared with what prisoners had to cope with. When covid-19 arrived, they were confined to their cells. For the first two weeks they could not shower or make phone calls. They could not use the commissary, because it was run by prisoners who were no longer allowed to move around, and had to eat sandwiches brought to their cells. “We sat there for months just not doing anything,” says Ms Stumblingbear. Covid ripped through the prison anyway. Two years later, the latest lockdown has only just been lifted.