Letters from Inside: Covid-19 and the Carceral State #5

This is part of our series Letters from Inside: COVID-19 and the Carceral State, centered on amplifying the voices of incarcerated people in Ohio. Below is a transcript of an electronic letter sent to us on 5/6/2020 by someone incarcerated at Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution, published with their permission and edited minimally for clarity. Their name has been withheld due to safety concerns.

I just seen a news story on Trevor Noah’s Show, saying this virus has mutated and is now even more contagious. That it may be more deadly and reinfecting people who already had covid-19. They said it came from Europe and is now in our eastern states. So the fact that it is even more contagious means that it will spread even faster in jails and prisons. Endangering our lives even more. Who knew it would get stronger? WOW!!! We really should be more proactive when it comes to protecting human life. Are they going to wait until people dying in jails and prisons reaches the hundreds to make true change and release us? Or will that not be enough of us and wait until inmate deaths across the nation reach the thousands… Or tens of thousands of us dead? Will they care at all? Will the state and federal government say we deserve it for being in here in the first place? I really wonder how many of their own staff are they willing to sacrifice before they start to care. If, at all… I hope our families and our friends and ALL people who are pro life stand up for us and make them care. We don’t have to die in these facilities!!!!

This letter was published by members of the Community Freedom Coalition, a central Ohio based group working to end all forms of state-sanctioned violence and build a world without police or prisons. Follow our work on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. #FreeThemAll