As part of KPFA’s ongoing coverage of COVID-19 inside California state prisons, we spoke with Monique Jimenez and her daughter Kayla. Their husband and father, Chris, is incarcerated at Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP), which at one point had one of the highest number of active COVID-19 cases within California state prisons. They shared with … Continued

Advocates are calling the COVID-19 outbreak at the Yuba County Jail in Marysville, CA a “humanitarian catastrophe.” As of December 28, 2020, 86 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the county jail, including five people in ICE custody and 15 staff. Our reporter Lucy Kang spoke to two men incarcerated in the ICE detention … Continued

As the COVID-19 pandemic is surging inside California’s prisons, jails and ICE detention facilities, we hear from people incarcerated inside and their family members. Renee Benavidez is the founder of We Are Their Voices, a group of family members fighting for better conditions for their incarcerated loved ones during the pandemic. Her husband Jason is … Continued

Earlier this summer, San Quentin State Prison was the site of one of the country’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks. Elsie Lee is a co-founder of Sistas’ with Voices, an advocacy group formed to speak against inhumane conditions in California prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her husband, Wilbert Lee is currently incarcerated in San Quentin. Elsie spoke … Continued

As COVID-19 surged inside California’s prisons, jails and ICE detention facilities, we hear from people incarcerated inside and their family members. Michelle Hoyt’s partner Lyle Crook, 54, is incarcerated at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran, CA. She’s been regularly communicating with him and others inside throughout the outbreak. In mid-December, Lyle contracted COVID-19. … Continued