A pedestrian passes by the King County Correctional Facility in downtown Seattle, Washington, U.S., September 17, 2020. Picture taken September 17, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The population in America’s big jails and state prisons plunged by 170,000 this spring amid the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters has found in a survey of facilities around the country. All told, localities and states held 11% fewer inmates in their custody.
The unprecedented mass release was a crash effort to contain the disease. But it is also providing the United States with an opportunity to experiment with a big idea: unwinding the country’s signature practice of mass incarceration.
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