New article on the impacts of COVID-19 on prison populations

An article by Catherine Heard on the impacts of COVID-19 on prison populations and wider justice systems worldwide has been published in a special, open access issue of the American journal Victims & Offenders.

Arguing that the pandemic has revealed an unprecedented need for a more health-informed approach to penal reform, the article presents data on prison population change and prison overcrowding and its health impacts.

It discusses emerging evidence of how the pandemic has affected prison systems worldwide, with a focus on measures taken to reduce prison population sizes and on restrictions prison regimes have imposed (including suspending social and other visits to prisons) to help control spread of the virus.