The Impact of Covid 19 on those Experiencing Incarceration
Posted by Anna Debenham, October 5, 2020
Our work supporting people in prison is more important than ever as people sit in cells without their education programs, without their religious or spiritual groups, without support groups and without visits from their friends and family. Many have lost their jobs in prison due to the inability to socially distance and, therefore, lost the ability to make money. And people rely on that money for things like commissary where they can purchase basic needs. Not to mention, this has been going on since mid-March. Quarantining and lockdown are a regular occurrence. I can't imagine spending 22 hours a day in a room no bigger than my bathroom for months on end, can you?
The Insight Alliance has been amazingly adaptive in our response to Covid:
We are able to continue our groups with the youth at MacLaren Youth Facility via weekly Zoom sessions.
We created an ongoing series of webinars that are played on the prison TV network.
We write a bi-weekly newsletter so that we are still able to support adults and youth in the four prisons we work in. And we receive regular contributions of art, poetry and writing from participants that we fold into our newsletters to create some sense of dialogue with the people we’re serving.
We are in conversation with political leaders at the city, state and national level about ways to improve the criminal justice system.
We are building relationships with other local organizations to leverage our resources to better support all the people we serve.
We receive ongoing feedback from very grateful people in prison about how we are providing a much needed connection and support in these trying times. A few weeks ago, we were on one of our Zoom calls with the youth at MacLaren, talking about grant funding and foundations giving money to people directly affected by Covid 19 versus prison-based programming (feedback we’ve received in response to our grant applications). While on the one hand we understand how crucial it is for funding to be allocated to those on the frontlines of Covid 19 work (i.e., food banks or health clinics). On the other hand, one of the youth brought up an important point. He said, “But we're directly affected by Covid. And we need you. I need you. This is the one program that gets me off my unit. And it's saving my sanity.”
'Funding for prison programs are at an all time low' - a quote from a very well established prison program here in Oregon that is on the verge of shutting down. We're finding the same thing. The people we serve ARE directly affected by Covid, not just in prison but also when they are released. Some of the transition services are no longer open or available. And the challenges of coming out to a world that looks so different, with fewer opportunities to get a job, is scary. This lack of support can be an easy route back to addiction. This is why we are expanding Project 180, our program in the community. Through Project 180, we are providing participants with key wraparound services such as help with food, connecting them with housing and jobs, and offering on-going mentoring. Last week I took a food box and a tarp to one of our past participants living in a park as he has no home and no support. He didn't want a tent, just a tarp that would wrap round a picnic table. It breaks my heart.
We are passionate in our support for those experiencing incarceration and for their families. It's really important to realize that just because our groups aren't running in person doesn't mean our support and need for funding were lessened. We continue to come up with creative ways to reach hundreds of people behind the fence and out in the community. And just because we're not going into prison and can't see folks, doesn't mean they don't exist and therefore don't need our support. Plus, people are being released every day and facing a world that has challenges that are really difficult to deal with. All these people need us and our support more than ever.
