Implementation of rapid COVID-19 testing at Massachusetts trial courts.

Background: COVID-19 shut down trial courts across the country, prolonging case resolution of charged, detained, and incarcerated people. We report on the implementation of rapid COVID-19 testing at Trial Courts in Massachusetts (MA), focusing on the outcomes of adoption and acceptability.

Methods: Guided by the Expert Recommendations in Implementing Change (ERIC) framework, we chose six strategies to guide implementation.

Cervical Cancer Screening and Follow-Up Practices in U.S. Prisons.

Introduction: The objective of this study is to better understand cervical cancer screening and follow-up practices in U.S. prisons.

Infectious disease surveillance in U.S. jails: Findings from a national survey.

While infectious diseases (ID) are a well-documented public health issue in carceral settings, research on ID screening and treatment in jails is lacking. A survey was sent to 1,126 jails in the United States to identify the prevalence of health screenings at intake and characteristics of care for ID; 371 surveys were completed correctly and analyzed. Despite conflicting Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance, only seven percent of surveyed jails test individuals for HIV at admission.

COVID-19 community spread and consequences for prison case rates.

Background: COVID-19 and mass incarceration are closely intertwined with prisons having COVID-19 case rates much higher than the general population. COVID-19 has highlighted the relationship between incarceration and health, but prior work has not explored how COVID-19 spread in communities have influenced case rates in prisons. Our objective was to understand the relationship between COVID-19 case rates in the general population and prisons located in the same county.

Carceral epidemiology: mass incarceration and structural racism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing epidemic of mass incarceration are closely intertwined, as COVID-19 entered US prisons and jails at astounding rates. Although observers warned of the swiftness with which COVID-19 could devastate people who are held and work in prisons and jails, their warnings were not heeded quickly enough. Incarcerated populations were deprioritised, and COVID-19 infected and killed those in jails and prisons at rates that outpaced the rates among the general population.

COVID-19 in corrections: Quarantine of incarcerated people.

Carceral settings in the United States have been the source of many single site COVID-19 outbreaks. Quarantine is a strategy used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in correctional settings, and specific quarantine practices differ state to state. To better understand how states are using quarantine in prisons, we reviewed each state's definition of quarantine and compared each state's definition to the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) definition and recommendations for quarantine in jails and prisons.