How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration w/ VICTORIA LAW

About this episode

Victoria Law discusses how the pandemic highlighted the inhumane conditions of incarceration in the U.S.

“The United States has this mentality that if somebody is serving a prison sentence or if somebody is in jail, they somehow deserve whatever happens. Whether it is medical neglect, whether it is abuse by staff or the other incarcerated people, whether it is terrible food, whether it is not being able to communicate or see their family members and loved ones. What happened in 2020 is that being incarcerated became a possible death sentence. Because we saw that prison deaths jumped 77% compared to the previous year where there was not a pandemic in the United States.” In this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu speaks with veteran journalist Victoria Law. She is the author of such books as Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women , Prison By Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms (co-authored with Maya Schenwar), and “Prisons Make Us Safer” and 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration. Today we talk about her new book, Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration. In this devastating study, Law shows how instead of focusing on care during the outbreak of COVID, prisons…

People in this episode

Host: David Palumbo-Liu

Guest: Victoria Law

Topics covered

• incarceration
• pandemic
• prison conditions
• social justice
• healthcare
• human rights

Keywords

• incarceration
• pandemic
• COVID-19
• prison
• human rights
• Victoria Law
• David Palumbo-Liu
• social justice
• healthcare

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women, Prison By Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms, Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration, Prisons Make Us Safer and 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration

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