The COVID Prison Project was founded in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on people in prisons and jails. The organization was created to aggregate publicly available data on the spread of COVID-19 in these facilities and its impact on the incarcerated population. The founders of the COVID Prison Project, Dr. Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein and Dr. Kathryn Nowotny, recognized the need for a centralized source of information and data on this issue, as the pandemic was rapidly spreading and exacerbating existing health and human rights concerns in prisons and jails. The organization quickly established itself as a crucial resource for advocacy groups, policymakers, journalists, and the public, working to increase transparency and accountability in the prison system during the pandemic.

A group of interdisciplinary public health scientists created a public-facing database to provide the most current and reliable data on the pandemic’s impact on carceral facilities. To learn more and explore these data, visit covidprisonproject.com.