Nearly 7,500 people in Wisconsin’s prisons have tested positive with COVID-19 since the pandemic began. According to the state Department of Corrections, there are more than 1,800 active cases and ten people have died from the virus.
Locally, the Dane County Jail, which is administered by the Sheriff’s office, reported nearly forty positive cases in the last 24 hours alone — about seven percent of the facility’s entire population.
It’s with these numbers in mind that local prison reform group EX-Incarcerated People Organizing, or EXPO, has kept a near constant vigil outside the Governor’s mansion since mid-October. The goal of the vigil, co-organized by fellow prison reform group WISDOM, is to draw attention to Wisconsin’s leaders’ failure to address the crisis of COVID-19 in the state’s carceral facilities.
For more on the recent surges in Wisconsin’s prisons, WORT Producer Jonah Chester spoke with EXPO Director Jerome Dillard.
(Photo: WORT News / Flickr)
