美国国家公共电台 NPR Coronavirus Precautions Lax In Overcrowded Indiana Prisons

Coronavirus Precautions Lax In Overcrowded Indiana Prisons

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

To slow the spread of the coronavirus, people are advised to stay 6 feet apart, wear masks and regularly wash or sanitize their hands. But all of that is hard to do in prisons. Indiana has 21 prisons and so far has reported nine coronavirus deaths among prisoners and two among staff. Correction officials say they're taking measures to prevent more infections. But as Jake Harper with Side Effects Public Media found, inmates² say they don't feel safe.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: This call is from a corrections facility.

JAKE HARPER, BYLINE³: That's Dennis calling his wife Lisa from inside the Plainfield Correctional Facility. We're not using their last name because they fear retaliation⁴ from prison staff.

LISA: How are you feeling?

DENNIS: I'm doing bad. I'm not doing good at all.

HARPER: Dennis was sick. He sleeps in a dorm of about 80 men. The week before, he says, several men had fevers, but they weren't immediately isolated⁵. Dennis said after that, staff hadn't checked their temperatures.

LISA: Just that one time?

DENNIS: Yeah, that's the only time they've ever done it. You know, we don't have no access to any other thermometer or anything.

HARPER: Now, Dennis' head was splitting, and his chest hurt, which worried Lisa. Dennis is in his 50s, and he has chronic⁶ obstructive pulmonary disease. That could cause complications if he gets the virus.

LISA: This scares me so bad.

DENNIS: It scares me, too. I just - I've got to think that I'm going to be OK. And, you know, most of the guys in here are saying, well, we all got it. Just some of us have symptoms, some of us don't.

HARPER: The Indiana Department of Corrections says it follows CDC guidelines and has its own outbreak response plan. The agency posted a video update on its website.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: We continually resupply soap and hand sanitizer at all correctional facilities.

HARPER: Relatives of inmates in several Indiana prisons spoke⁷ with NPR. They shared messages and recorded their calls. Inmates say social distancing is impossible. Their bunks⁸ are a few feet apart. For many, there's no hand sanitizer. And until recently, guards weren't wearing masks. Here's a second inmate¹ calling from the same prison as Dennis, Plainfield.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: It's a breeding ground for infections and viruses. And now we got a reason to be scared for our lives.

HARPER: He and his wife asked not to be named to avoid retaliation. He was in a different dorm than Dennis, but the story was similar - no social distancing even after people showed symptoms.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: At this very moment, I can reach out and touch somebody, and now somebody else.

HARPER: His wife told NPR her husband tried to make a tent with blankets to protect himself. A correctional officer told him to take it down.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I normally would tell my husband to comply with what he's being told, but at this point, I told him absolutely not. This is the only way that you have to even protect yourself.

HARPER: None of these stories surprised Lauren-Brooke Eisen. She's with the Brennan Center for Justice in New York.

LAUREN-BROOKE EISEN: People in prisons in this country are usually sharing cells, sharing toilets. And that's why these communicable diseases spread so quickly.

HARPER: Eisen says Indiana could release some prisoners, like the elderly or inmates near the end of their sentences. It would give people inside more room. Governors in Ohio, Kentucky and New York have ordered the release of some prisoners. But Indiana's Republican governor, Eric Holcomb, has resisted calls to do that. He recently downplayed the situation in prisons.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ERIC HOLCOMB: I think we've done an admirable job. We have got our offenders⁹ in a safe place - we believe maybe even safer than just letting them out.

HARPER: Within a week of those comments, three prisoners had died. State officials won't say how many prisoners have been tested and declined to be interviewed. Some inmates were finally given masks. Some got a new bar of soap. When that happened, they guessed correctly that a prisoner had died. When Lisa heard the governor say prisoners are probably safer inside, she laughed.

LISA: Wow, that's a big lie. They have them herded¹⁰ like cattle, where the virus can just jump from one to the other. There's no protection.

HARPER: She says, yeah, the prisoners were sentenced for their crimes, but they weren't sentenced to death.

For NPR News, I'm Jake Harper.

SIMON: That story comes from a reporting partnership¹¹ with Side Effects Public Media and Kaiser Health News.

1 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

2 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 bunks   

n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话

参考例句：

• These bunks can tip up and fold back into the wall. 这些铺位可以翻起来并折叠收入墙内。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At last they turned into their little bunks in the cart. 最后他们都钻进车内的小卧铺里。 来自辞典例句

9 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

10 herded   

群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动

参考例句：

• He herded up his goats. 他把山羊赶拢在一起。
• They herded into the corner. 他们往角落里聚集。

11 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。