talkingpointsmemo--2020-06-17--Poll: More Americans Now Believe Police Brutality Is A Serious Problem In US

DETROIT ( AP ) — A dramatic shift has taken place in the nation ’ s opinions on policing and race , as a new poll finds that more Americans today than five years ago believe police brutality is a very serious problem that too often goes undisciplined and unequally targets black Americans .
The new findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggest the death of George Floyd and the weeks of nationwide and global protests that followed have changed perceptions in ways that previous incidents of police brutality did not .
About half of American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public is a “ very ” or “ extremely ” serious problem , up from about a third as recently as September last year .
Only about 3 in 10 said the same in July 2015 , just a few months after Freddie Gray , a black man , died in police custody in Baltimore .
In the latest poll , roughly 3 in 10 said police violence is a moderately serious problem .
Those who say it is not a serious problem has declined from a third in 2015 to about 2 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ black man , died in late May after a police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into Floyd ’ s neck for several minutes .
Experts say the dramatic change in opinion about police violence that has followed is an indication the country is grappling with how to confront centuries of structural racism and inequity .
“ I have long argued that we can not have a racial reconciliation in the United States because there ’ s not been an admission of what has gone on , ” said Wornie Reed , director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center at Virginia Tech .
“ The nation is constructed on ( racism ) .
… It ’ s not an accident or something that America decided to do on the way to its greatness .
It ’ s the means by which it became great.
” The new AP-NORC poll finds that more Americans now think police in most communities are more likely to use deadly force against a black person than a white person , 61 % , up from 49 % in July 2015 .
Only about a third say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make a difference in the use of deadly force against them , compared with roughly half in 2015 .
And Americans are far more likely now than they were five years ago to say that police officers who cause injury or death in the course of their job are treated too leniently by the justice system , 65 % vs. 41 % , rather than too harshly or fairly .
Fewer now think they ’ re treated either fairly or too harshly .
Changes in opinions about social issues are more often slow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the deputy director of the AP-NORC Center .
Benz said such significant changes can often indicate meaningful or lasting change has taken place in public awareness and attitudes .
“ The data show noteworthy changes of a magnitude we don ’ t see very often , especially on long-standing cultural or social issues , ” Benz said .
“ While this poll was certainly conducted at a moment of tremendous attention on racism in our society , we have empirical signals from other data to suggest that these changes are not purely a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ white Americans , 39 % call police violence against the public a very serious problem , up from 19 % in 2015 , while 35 % say it ’ s moderately serious .
Most black Americans continue to say police violence is a very serious problem .
The poll also found that 51 % of black Americans say they have been unfairly treated by a police officer because of their race , compared with just 6 % of white Americans .
That includes Mississippi resident Sandra Smith , who said she and many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with police over the years .
Smith also feels many white Americans are unaware of the fear or anxiety black Americans experience in those interactions .
“ I think it has reached its boiling point and I say that it ’ s like a volcano that was waiting to erupt , ” said Smith , a 61-year-old black woman .
“ And looking back on 400 years of oppression of African Americans and the atrocities that we had to face to try to even make it in this country , when you look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that were not given to the black man , those things build up.
” Majorities of Americans across racial groups say police use of deadly force is more common against a black person , including 92 % of black Americans and 54 % of white Americans .
Five years ago , just 39 % of white Americans said police were more likely to use deadly force against a black person .
Separate from use of deadly force , the poll also finds about 7 in 10 Americans say white people are treated more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ general , while about a quarter say the race of a person does not make a difference .
Nine in 10 black Americans and 7 in 10 white Americans say white people are treated more fairly .
“ My eyes have been opened in the last month of how serious the problem really is , ” said Jeffrey Boord-Dill , a 62-year-old white man , who lives in Kentucky .
“ I think it was a problem before now , but not nearly on the level that I see today , and having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ putting myself in their shoes from those stories , I can ’ t imagine how damn tired everybody is of walking out the door and wondering if they ’ re going to come home or not .
That , in this country , is inexcusable.
” Fingerhut reported from Washington .
AP video journalist Noreen Nasir in Chicago contributed to this report .
The AP-NORC poll of 1,301 adults was conducted June 11-15 using a sample drawn from NORC ’ s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel , which is designed to be representative of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points .

DETROIT (AP) — A dramatic shift has taken place in the nation’s opinions on policing and race, as a new poll finds that more Americans today than five years ago believe police brutality is a very serious problem that too often goes undisciplined and unequally targets black Americans.
The new findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggest the death of George Floyd and the weeks of nationwide and global protests that followed have changed perceptions in ways that previous incidents of police brutality did not.
About half of American adults now say police violence against the public is a “very” or “extremely” serious problem, up from about a third as recently as September last year. Only about 3 in 10 said the same in July 2015, just a few months after Freddie Gray, a black man, died in police custody in Baltimore.
In the latest poll, roughly 3 in 10 said police violence is a moderately serious problem. Those who say it is not a serious problem has declined from a third in 2015 to about 2 in 10 today.
Floyd, a black man, died in late May after a police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes. Experts say the dramatic change in opinion about police violence that has followed is an indication the country is grappling with how to confront centuries of structural racism and inequity.
“I have long argued that we cannot have a racial reconciliation in the United States because there’s not been an admission of what has gone on,” said Wornie Reed, director of the Race and Social Policy Research Center at Virginia Tech. “The nation is constructed on (racism). … It’s not an accident or something that America decided to do on the way to its greatness. It’s the means by which it became great.”
The new AP-NORC poll finds that more Americans now think police in most communities are more likely to use deadly force against a black person than a white person, 61%, up from 49% in July 2015. Only about a third say the race of a person does not make a difference in the use of deadly force against them, compared with roughly half in 2015.
And Americans are far more likely now than they were five years ago to say that police officers who cause injury or death in the course of their job are treated too leniently by the justice system, 65% vs. 41%, rather than too harshly or fairly. Fewer now think they’re treated either fairly or too harshly.
Changes in opinions about social issues are more often slow and incremental, said Jennifer Benz, the deputy director of the AP-NORC Center. Benz said such significant changes can often indicate meaningful or lasting change has taken place in public awareness and attitudes.
“The data show noteworthy changes of a magnitude we don’t see very often, especially on long-standing cultural or social issues,” Benz said. “While this poll was certainly conducted at a moment of tremendous attention on racism in our society, we have empirical signals from other data to suggest that these changes are not purely a reaction to the current events.”
Among white Americans, 39% call police violence against the public a very serious problem, up from 19% in 2015, while 35% say it’s moderately serious. Most black Americans continue to say police violence is a very serious problem.
The poll also found that 51% of black Americans say they have been unfairly treated by a police officer because of their race, compared with just 6% of white Americans.
That includes Mississippi resident Sandra Smith, who said she and many others she knows have had uncomfortable encounters with police over the years. Smith also feels many white Americans are unaware of the fear or anxiety black Americans experience in those interactions.
“I think it has reached its boiling point and I say that it’s like a volcano that was waiting to erupt,” said Smith, a 61-year-old black woman. “And looking back on 400 years of oppression of African Americans and the atrocities that we had to face to try to even make it in this country, when you look at all those things, the rights that were not given to the black man, those things build up.”
Majorities of Americans across racial groups say police use of deadly force is more common against a black person, including 92% of black Americans and 54% of white Americans. Five years ago, just 39% of white Americans said police were more likely to use deadly force against a black person.
Separate from use of deadly force, the poll also finds about 7 in 10 Americans say white people are treated more fairly in dealing with the police in general, while about a quarter say the race of a person does not make a difference. Nine in 10 black Americans and 7 in 10 white Americans say white people are treated more fairly.
“My eyes have been opened in the last month of how serious the problem really is,” said Jeffrey Boord-Dill, a 62-year-old white man, who lives in Kentucky. “I think it was a problem before now, but not nearly on the level that I see today, and having people of color tell their stories and putting myself in their shoes from those stories, I can’t imagine how damn tired everybody is of walking out the door and wondering if they’re going to come home or not. That, in this country, is inexcusable.”
___
Fingerhut reported from Washington. AP video journalist Noreen Nasir in Chicago contributed to this report.
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,301 adults was conducted June 11-15 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
___
Online:
AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org/


talkingpointsmemo--2020-06-18--DOJ Goes All In On Trying To Block Release Of Bolton Book

The Justice Department just took its crusade against John Bolton ’ s book to 11 .
On Wednesday evening , after news outlets started reporting on some of the book ’ s most damning revelations , the Justice Department filed in court an emergency request to block the publication of the tell-all .
The new filing came in the same civil lawsuit the Justice Department filed Tuesday aimed at recouping whatever earnings Bolton made from the book .
In an unusual move , the government is seeking an order would effectively halt third parties , such as the book stores @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s book , from distributing it .
The filing requested a hearing on the matter on Friday , ahead of the Tuesday publication date .
Much of the Justice Department ’ s filing recounted what it had previously said about Bolton allegedly breaching his NDA by moving forward with publishing his book , despite having not gotten a final approval from the prepublication review of the manuscript .
Bolton ’ s lawyer has suggested that the prepublication review was stalled for political reasons , citing the informal okay Bolton received from a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intervened in the process .
The political appointee , National Security Council Senior Director for Intelligence Programs Michael Ellis , filed a declaration in the case claiming that Bolton ’ s manuscript contains classified information — some portions up to “ several paragraphs ” in length — that , if made public , could “ reasonably be expected to cause damage , serious damage , or exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States.
” Ellis also filed in camera , ex parte — meaning the only the court will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ description of the examples of the classified information that could be expected to “ cause damage ” to U.S. national security .
“ Unlike ordinary confidential information the Government holds , the information at stake here is classified , including in some instances at the Secret or Top Secret/SCI levels , which means by definition that its disclosure reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage , or exceptionally grave damage , to the national security of the United States , ” the DOJ filing said .
The Justice Department also filed public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe backing Ellis ’ assessment of the risk to national security .
The filing was a major escalation from the Justice Department .
The initial lawsuit the Department filed Tuesday appeared more aimed at punishing Bolton financially than preemptively blocking the book ’ s release .
National security law experts told TPM that the government had a strong case for recouping Bolton ’ s monetary earnings , but that the bar for preventing the book ’ s release was much higher .
There are also practical issues in trying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that has already been sent to several media outlets and presumably to third party book sellers .
Bradley Moss , a national security lawyer , predicted that , “ Friday ’ s hearing , if it happens , will be a circus of lawyers and will be ‘ must watch ’ TV.
” “ DOJ is going for broke with this TRO motion , trying not only to silence Bolton but also halt release of the books by the publisher and commercial resellers through an obscure federal rule that , to my knowledge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ type of case , ” he told TPM via email .

The Justice Department just took its crusade against John Bolton’s book to 11.
On Wednesday evening, after news outlets started reporting on some of the book’s most damning revelations, the Justice Department filed in court an emergency request to block the publication of the tell-all.
The new filing came in the same civil lawsuit the Justice Department filed Tuesday aimed at recouping whatever earnings Bolton made from the book.
In an unusual move, the government is seeking an order would effectively halt third parties, such as the book stores that have already received copies of Bolton’s book, from distributing it.
The filing requested a hearing on the matter on Friday, ahead of the Tuesday publication date.
Much of the Justice Department’s filing recounted what it had previously said about Bolton allegedly breaching his NDA by moving forward with publishing his book, despite having not gotten a final approval from the prepublication review of the manuscript.
Bolton’s lawyer has suggested that the prepublication review was stalled for political reasons, citing the informal okay Bolton received from a career classification expert before a political appointee intervened in the process.
The political appointee, National Security Council Senior Director for Intelligence Programs Michael Ellis, filed a declaration in the case claiming that Bolton’s manuscript contains classified information — some portions up to “several paragraphs” in length — that, if made public, could “reasonably be expected to cause damage, serious damage, or exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States.”
Ellis also filed in camera, ex parte — meaning the only the court will be able to view it — a description of the examples of the classified information that could be expected to “cause damage” to U.S. national security.
“Unlike ordinary confidential information the Government holds, the information at stake here is classified, including in some instances at the Secret or Top Secret/SCI levels, which means by definition that its disclosure reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage, or exceptionally grave damage, to the national security of the United States,” the DOJ filing said.
The Justice Department also filed public declarations from other officials, including Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe backing Ellis’ assessment of the risk to national security.
The filing was a major escalation from the Justice Department. The initial lawsuit the Department filed Tuesday appeared more aimed at punishing Bolton financially than preemptively blocking the book’s release.
National security law experts told TPM that the government had a strong case for recouping Bolton’s monetary earnings, but that the bar for preventing the book’s release was much higher. There are also practical issues in trying to stop the publication of a book that has already been sent to several media outlets and presumably to third party book sellers.
Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer, predicted that, “Friday’s hearing, if it happens, will be a circus of lawyers and will be ‘must watch’ TV.”
“DOJ is going for broke with this TRO motion, trying not only to silence Bolton but also halt release of the books by the publisher and commercial resellers through an obscure federal rule that, to my knowledge, has never been used in this type of case,” he told TPM via email.
Read the DOJ filing below:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-06-18--Trump Campaign Ropes In Giuliani To Demand More Debates Against Biden

The Trump campaign is reportedly putting Rudy Giuliani in charge of a campaign to call for more debates against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this fall .
According to Politico , Giuliani hosted a Thursday afternoon conference call with Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and Frank Fahrenkopf , co-chairman of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates .
Both Giuliani and Parscale demanded that the debates begin prior to the start of early voting .
Additionally , they requested a fourth debate .
Trump advisers told Politico that despite the President ’ s threat to boycott the debates last year , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against Biden in an effort to sow doubts regarding the former VP ’ s stamina for the job .
Politico reported that Trump advisers also believe that more debates means more opportunities for Biden to embarrass himself .
The Trump campaign also requested that debates take place on weekday evenings , with the exception of Thursdays due to NFL games , which they argue would maximize viewership .
Politico reported that Giuliani — who played a role in Trump ’ s 2016 debate prep — is being brought onto the Trump campaign by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Giuliani ’ s new role would mark his return to the spotlight following his prominence during Trump ’ s impeachment , which involved Giuliani leading efforts to dig up false allegations against the Bidens .
Trump ’ s team is turning its focus to vetting moderators and says that both the re-election campaign and Biden should have input , according to Politico .
Parscale appeared to give the green light on Politico ’ s report in Thursday afternoon tweets .
Kate Bedingfield , deputy manager for the Biden campaign , reacted to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a statement that Trump “ wants to change the subject from his failed leadership ” by launching a “ ‘ campaign ’ for many debates.
” “ We are not going to ride the roller coaster of the ever-changing Trump campaign position on debates , nor are we going to be distracted by his demands , ” Bedingfield wrote .
“ We will make this simple : like every other Democratic and Republican candidate since 1992 , we will show up for the debates set by the Commission on Presidential Debates , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the dates they have selected , with the formats and moderators they designate — so long as Donald Trump does the same , and does not intimidate the Commission into changes from past practices.
” Bedingfield then slammed Trump for his “ debate distraction gambit ” and argued that he could use his time better by making efforts to fight COVID-19 , fix the economy , address systemic racism , or golf at one his properties at taxpayers ’ expense .
The Commission on Presidential Debates did not immediately respond to TPM @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential debates are currently scheduled in the fall : Sept. 29 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana , Oct. 15 at the University of Michigan , and Oct. 22 at Belmont University in Nashville .
A vice presidential debate will be held Oct. 7 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City .
Biden has yet to announce his running mate .

The Trump campaign is reportedly putting Rudy Giuliani in charge of a campaign to call for more debates against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this fall.
According to Politico, Giuliani hosted a Thursday afternoon conference call with Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chairman of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Both Giuliani and Parscale demanded that the debates begin prior to the start of early voting. Additionally, they requested a fourth debate.
Trump advisers told Politico that despite the President’s threat to boycott the debates last year, he now wants to have a showdown against Biden in an effort to sow doubts regarding the former VP’s stamina for the job. Politico reported that Trump advisers also believe that more debates means more opportunities for Biden to embarrass himself.
The Trump campaign also requested that debates take place on weekday evenings, with the exception of Thursdays due to NFL games, which they argue would maximize viewership.
Politico reported that Giuliani — who played a role in Trump’s 2016 debate prep — is being brought onto the Trump campaign by Parscale to serve in an unpaid capacity. Giuliani’s new role would mark his return to the spotlight following his prominence during Trump’s impeachment, which involved Giuliani leading efforts to dig up false allegations against the Bidens.
Trump’s team is turning its focus to vetting moderators and says that both the re-election campaign and Biden should have input, according to Politico.
Parscale appeared to give the green light on Politico’s report in Thursday afternoon tweets.
If @JoeBiden is too scared to agree to more debates then how about a cable news battle royal: Rachel Maddow @maddow
Don Lemon @donlemon
Joe Scarborough @JoeNBC Vs Laura Ingraham @IngrahamAngle
Sean Hannity @seanhannity
Tucker Carlson @TuckerCarlson ??? — Brad Parscale (@parscale) June 18, 2020
Kate Bedingfield, deputy manager for the Biden campaign, reacted to Politico’s report by telling TPM in a statement that Trump “wants to change the subject from his failed leadership” by launching a “‘campaign’ for many debates.”
“We are not going to ride the roller coaster of the ever-changing Trump campaign position on debates, nor are we going to be distracted by his demands,” Bedingfield wrote. “We will make this simple: like every other Democratic and Republican candidate since 1992, we will show up for the debates set by the Commission on Presidential Debates, at the places they have selected, on the dates they have selected, with the formats and moderators they designate — so long as Donald Trump does the same, and does not intimidate the Commission into changes from past practices.”
Bedingfield then slammed Trump for his “debate distraction gambit” and argued that he could use his time better by making efforts to fight COVID-19, fix the economy, address systemic racism, or golf at one his properties at taxpayers’ expense.
The Commission on Presidential Debates did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
Three presidential debates are currently scheduled in the fall: Sept. 29 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, Oct. 15 at the University of Michigan, and Oct. 22 at Belmont University in Nashville. A vice presidential debate will be held Oct. 7 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Biden has yet to announce his running mate.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-06-18--WH Trade Adviser Slams Bolton Book As ‘Deep Swamp Revenge Porn’

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro tore into ex-Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton ’ s scathing new tell-all book on Thursday , calling it “ revenge porn.
” “ It ’ s the deep swamp political equivalent of revenge porn.
” Navarro said in a Fox News interview on Thursday .
“ The guy got fired because he didn ’ t obey the chain of command , because he was out of touch with what President Donald J. Trump stands for as far as foreign policy.
” Navarro told Fox News that “ book deal , big lie John @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effective officials in the Trump White House and criticized Bolton for his trademark hawkishness on foreign policy that Navarro says first got him in hot water in the Bush administration .
The White House has launched increasingly fiery attacks on Bolton after portions of his forthcoming memoir leaked Wednesday .
Navarro , following the lead of President Trump , who sent out vicious tweets about Bolton on Thursday morning , ripped both Bolton ’ s character and the book ’ s allegations that Trump asked China for reelection help , claiming that Bolton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ big issues like China.
” Navarro instead described the former national security adviser as a sort of “ warlord ” who , he alleges , “ spent lot of time trying to engineer coups in places like Venezuela.
” “ He comes in here in his like seersucker summer suits with the big mustache .
I was in a staff meeting one time ; he walked in and he was absolutely giddy at the prospect of a coup in Venezuela , ” Navarro said .
“ It was like weird , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ Wait a minute .
This is a serious , serious matter and he is giddy .
There ’ s something wrong with that dude.
’ ” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in similar stride appeared on “ Fox & Friends ” on Thursday morning and made attempts at sowing doubt around Bolton ’ s account .
“ He ’ s discredited on both sides of the aisle , and if you thought [ former FBI Director James ] Comey was the most disliked man in America , I think John Bolton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ McEnany said .
The Department of Justice took frantic steps to stop the book , including a lawsuit which was filed on Tuesday and then an emergency order which it issued on Wednesday .

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro tore into ex-Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton’s scathing new tell-all book on Thursday, calling it “revenge porn.”
“It’s the deep swamp political equivalent of revenge porn.” Navarro said in a Fox News interview on Thursday. “The guy got fired because he didn’t obey the chain of command, because he was out of touch with what President Donald J. Trump stands for as far as foreign policy.”
White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro blasted ex-Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton's new book in a Fox News interview on Thursday, calling it “deep swamp revenge porn.” pic.twitter.com/mpWUUhz7Wy — TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) June 18, 2020
Navarro told Fox News that “book deal, big lie John Bolton” was one of the least effective officials in the Trump White House and criticized Bolton for his trademark hawkishness on foreign policy that Navarro says first got him in hot water in the Bush administration.
The White House has launched increasingly fiery attacks on Bolton after portions of his forthcoming memoir leaked Wednesday.
Navarro, following the lead of President Trump, who sent out vicious tweets about Bolton on Thursday morning, ripped both Bolton’s character and the book’s allegations that Trump asked China for reelection help, claiming that Bolton “had nothing to do” with “big issues like China.”
Navarro instead described the former national security adviser as a sort of “warlord” who, he alleges, “spent lot of time trying to engineer coups in places like Venezuela.”
“He comes in here in his like seersucker summer suits with the big mustache. I was in a staff meeting one time; he walked in and he was absolutely giddy at the prospect of a coup in Venezuela,” Navarro said. “It was like weird, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Wait a minute. This is a serious, serious matter and he is giddy. There’s something wrong with that dude.’”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in similar stride appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning and made attempts at sowing doubt around Bolton’s account.
“He’s discredited on both sides of the aisle, and if you thought [former FBI Director James] Comey was the most disliked man in America, I think John Bolton has now taken that title,” McEnany said.
The Department of Justice took frantic steps to stop the book, including a lawsuit which was filed on Tuesday and then an emergency order which it issued on Wednesday.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-06-18--Facebook Removes Trump Ads With Images It Said Recalled Nazi Camps

Facebook on Thursday removed angry ads from the Trump campaign vilifying far-left groups that included images of red triangles — which observers noted were the symbols Nazis used to mark political prisoners in concentration camps .
The campaign denied any purposeful reference to Nazi Germany in the ads , asserting instead that the inverted red triangle referred to “ antifa ” or anti-fascist groups .
And other versions of the ads used other imagery , like a highway caution sign .
On the Trump campaign Facebook page , as well as the president and vice president ’ s Facebook pages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem .
They are destroying our cities and rioting — it ’ s absolutely madness.
” A link below the triangles urged readers to go to the Trump campaign ’ s website to “ STOP ANTIFA.
” According to the U.S .
Holocaust Memorial Museum , the inverted red triangle denoted a political prisoner in Nazi Germany — such as trade unionists , Social Democrats , Communists , and others opposed to the Nazis .
Facebook removed the ads @ @ @ @ @ @ @ press inquiries and outcry from groups like Bend the Arc , a progressive Jewish organization .
“ Nazis used the red triangle to mark political prisoners and people who rescued Jews , ” the group wrote on Twitter .
“ Trump & the RNC are using it to smear millions of protestors .
Their masks are off.
” In a statement to several outlets , a Facebook spokesperson said the ads violated the site ’ s policy against “ organized hate.
” “ Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ context that condemns or discusses the symbol , ” Facebook said .
But the Trump campaign denied any intentional affiliation with the Holocaust .
Responding to reporters on Twitter , the campaign said the red triangle was “ widely used by Antifa ” and pointed out that the symbol was not in the Anti-Defamation League ’ s database of hate symbols .
( An ADL spokesperson told The Washington Post that that database only refers to modern extremist symbols , not those used historically . )
The Trump campaign ’ s response to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eyebrows : The example it used to illustrate that the red triangle was an “ antifa ” symbol came from a Spanish user on the website spreadshirt.com

Facebook on Thursday removed angry ads from the Trump campaign vilifying far-left groups that included images of red triangles — which observers noted were the symbols Nazis used to mark political prisoners in concentration camps.
The campaign denied any purposeful reference to Nazi Germany in the ads, asserting instead that the inverted red triangle referred to “antifa” or anti-fascist groups. And other versions of the ads used other imagery, like a highway caution sign.
On the Trump campaign Facebook page, as well as the president and vice president’s Facebook pages, posts featuring the symbol claimed that “Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem. They are destroying our cities and rioting — it’s absolutely madness.” A link below the triangles urged readers to go to the Trump campaign’s website to “STOP ANTIFA.”
According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the inverted red triangle denoted a political prisoner in Nazi Germany — such as trade unionists, Social Democrats, Communists, and others opposed to the Nazis.
Facebook removed the ads with the red triangles in response to press inquiries and outcry from groups like Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish organization.
“Nazis used the red triangle to mark political prisoners and people who rescued Jews,” the group wrote on Twitter. “Trump & the RNC are using it to smear millions of protestors. Their masks are off.”
The President of the United States is campaigning for reelection using a Nazi concentration camp symbol. Nazis used the red triangle to mark political prisoners and people who rescued Jews. Trump & the RNC are using it to smear millions of protestors. Their masks are off. pic.twitter.com/UzmzDaRBup — Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) June 18, 2020
In a statement to several outlets, a Facebook spokesperson said the ads violated the site’s policy against “organized hate.”
“Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol,” Facebook said.
But the Trump campaign denied any intentional affiliation with the Holocaust.
Responding to reporters on Twitter, the campaign said the red triangle was “widely used by Antifa” and pointed out that the symbol was not in the Anti-Defamation League’s database of hate symbols. (An ADL spokesperson told The Washington Post that that database only refers to modern extremist symbols, not those used historically.)
This is an emoji. ? It's also a symbol widely used by Antifa. It was used in an ad about Antifa. It is not in the ADL's Hate Symbols Database. pic.twitter.com/RSzvNT0SrC — Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 & get the APP (@TrumpWarRoom) June 18, 2020
The Trump campaign’s response to the criticism, meanwhile, raised some eyebrows: The example it used to illustrate that the red triangle was an “antifa” symbol came from a Spanish user on the website spreadshirt.com


talkingpointsmemo--2020-06-18--The Prison Was Built to Hold 1,500 Inmates. It Had Over 2,000 Coronavirus Cases.

This story first appeared at ProPublica .
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom .
Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox .
Jason Thompson lay awake in his dormitory bed in the Marion Correctional Institution in central Ohio , immobilized by pain , listening to the sounds of “ hacking and gurgling ” as the novel coronavirus passed from bunk to bunk like a game of “ sick hot potato , ” he wrote in a Facebook post .
Thompson lives in Marion ’ s dorm for disabled and older @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ProPublica in a phone call as the prison ’ s “ old folks home ” — where 199 inmates , many frail and some in wheelchairs , were isolated in a space designed for 170 .
As the disease spread among bunks spaced 3 or 4 feet apart , Thompson said he could see bedridden inmates with full-blown symptoms and others “ in varying stages of recovery .
While the rest of us are rarely 6 feet away from anyone else , sick or not.
” “ Prison is not designed for social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is serving a de facto life sentence ( his first parole hearing will come in 2087 ) for aggravated murder and kidnapping .
“ That ’ s not the system ’ s fault .
That ’ s not the prison ’ s fault .
It couldn ’ t have been designed with the vision of one day having to social distance for 6 feet .
… It squeezed as many of us in here as it could.
” Nationwide , Marion ranked as the largest recorded coronavirus outbreak of any U.S. institution in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other prisons , including another packed one in Scotia Township , Ohio , were in the top five .
The fifth is the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls , South Dakota .
With fears that a second wave of infection will erupt in the fall , some state corrections officials are realizing the coronavirus is a wake-up call , forcing them to confront the problem of prison overcrowding .
They ’ re considering how to achieve social distancing in confined spaces , where inmates are unable to do the only thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ viral spread .
States and the federal government responded to the initial onset of the coronavirus by releasing some individual prisoners who were particularly vulnerable , although ProPublica found the federal directive was undermined by secretive Bureau of Prisons guidance limiting early release .
But even when it looked like the first wave of the coronavirus was subsiding outside prison walls , cases in prisons and jails kept climbing .
A Times analysis found a 68 % increase in prison and jail cases in May .
In light of this , experts are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , acknowledging that prisons simply have to hold fewer people overall .
Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel told ProPublica that he expects his state to incorporate the need for social distancing into its definition of what a facility ’ s acceptable operating capacity is .
Staying under the new capacity limits will require prison populations to be reduced .
“ When you look at this objectively , you have to reduce population , ” Wetzel said .
“ Because it ’ s not realistic to say , for the next 12 months , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be locked down so we can mitigate the spread.
” Reducing populations has proven challenging in states like Ohio , where the overall prison population has declined while the inmate count at Marion has increased .
When Ohio addressed overcrowding of female inmates by converting a minimum-security men ’ s prison into a second women ’ s prison , some of the displaced men were sent to Marion instead ; the same thing happened when the state closed a minimum-security prison for cost reasons in 2018 .
Looming fiscal crises in states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to further cut prison budgets , and efforts to build more prisons are on hold .
Ohio has shelved plans to rebuild the overstuffed Pickaway Correctional Institution ( site of the second-largest recorded coronavirus outbreak in the Times analysis ) and has no current plans to permanently address overcrowding at Marion .
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has defended its approach to the coronavirus outbreak and answered several questions from ProPublica about specific allegations from inmates .
On the issue of overcrowding in general , spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to keep up with the demands of the courts and the criminal justice system .
Space allocation has been and will always be a challenge for any correctional system across the country.
” Overcrowded prisons are nothing new .
But while Ohio ’ s overall prison population is the lowest it has been in since 2006 because of modest criminal justice and sentencing reforms , Marion ’ s numbers have grown over the last decade , from 2,300 in March 2010 to 2,538 at the end of March 2020 , according to official @ @ @ @ @ @ @ estimates of its prisons to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015 , but an inspection that year showed Marion approaching twice its official capacity .
More recent figures show Marion was at 153 % of that capacity at the end of March , on the eve of the coronavirus ’ s arrival .
The ODRC ’ s Smith told ProPublica that Ohio no longer used that capacity measure , because “ the design of a facility 60 years ago is not meaningful today due to the changing nature of the populations.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other states .
Thirty-two states reduced their prison capacity from 2011 to 2018 , according to a ProPublica analysis of federal data .
Prisons in 21 of those states became , on net , more crowded as a result .
Eighteen states that had closed prisons were at or above 100 % of their remaining facilities ’ official capacity estimates .
( Ohio is not counted in this analysis .
It is one of two states , along with Connecticut , that do not report any capacity numbers to the federal government .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Ohio stopped calculating capacity because “ there is no longer a national standard.
” ) The inmates in those overstuffed prisons became kindling in the coronavirus fire .
“ The only thing that we have found that works right now , while we don ’ t have appropriate therapeutics and we don ’ t have a vaccine , is social distancing , ” said Brie Williams , director of the Criminal Justice & Health Program at the University of California , San Francisco .
“ And in order to do that , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the physical distance between people to make it happen.
” By the time Marion conducted mass testing in late April , the state reported that over 2,000 prisoners — about 80 % of the population — had contracted the virus .
Prison authorities concluded that it was easier to isolate infected prisoners by keeping them in their assigned dorms and cellblocks and moving the few healthy prisoners into the gym .
Marion ’ s high infection rate outraged inmate Jonathan White , a self-described “ news junkie ” who took advantage of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Fox News to the TV options to educate himself about the virus , even as he recovered from it .
Ohio recorded 76 prison coronavirus deaths as of June 12 , including 35 at Pickaway and 13 at Marion .
Both facilities are overcrowded .
Pickaway , like Marion , was over 50 % above the last-recorded capacity estimate as of the end of March .
Thompson said he had only a vague sense of what was happening around him as the sickest were carted out and prisoners were moved around as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marion guard died of the coronavirus — the first fatality of any guard or inmate in the state — on April 8 , he heard the news from his girlfriend in a phone call .
“ A week or so later , ” he said , “ they had a moment of silence for his passing.
” Thompson himself was initially told he ’ d tested negative ; he spent two nights in the gym , where , he said , cots were actually spaced 6 feet apart .
Then he and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been a mistake — they were infected and had to move back to their original dorms and cellblocks .
The reversal devastated Thompson , who told ProPublica he ’ d spent years trying to get over a reflexive distrust of prison or medical authorities .
“ I am not ashamed , ” he wrote in a May Facebook post , “ to admit to having had thoughts of suicide.
” In most states , there ’ s officially no such thing as an overcrowded prison , since there ’ s no limit to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a facility .
The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics , the DOJ arm that collects state criminal justice data , has three metrics for measuring prison capacity .
In practice , all of these are subjective assessments made by a state ’ s prison officials .
Even so , many prison systems are at or over 100 % of reported capacity .
When state budget crunches hit , as they did during the 2008-09 Great Recession , they can close prisons whether or not their prison population is actually declining .
And closing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ controversial , than passing a bill to shorten future prison sentences ( or offer good-time credits for current prisoners ) in the hopes of reducing incarceration down the road .
A 2016 RAND study found that 31 states had closed prisons between 2007 and 2012 because of budget constraints .
The most common response to budget crunches , RAND found , was closing facilities and then cramming more inmates into the remaining ones .
Since 2004 , Michigan , for example , has closed prisons that held more than 15,000 beds while adding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kept open .
( Chris Gautz , a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Corrections , told ProPublica that since 2010 , all prison closures have been offset by reductions in inmate population . )
In states like Ohio , where incarceration rates were still growing in the late 2000s , adding beds stalled the need for new prisons but came at a cost .
“ Crowding gives the state a perverse bargain , ” the then-director of the Ohio Sentencing Commission wrote in a 2011 report .
“ Extra inmates add relatively @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in an over-capacity system only costs about $ 16/day in food , clothing , and medical care.
” Adjusting for inflation , ODRC reports analyzed by ProPublica show that the per-day cost to house an inmate in an Ohio prison dropped from $ 90.55 ( 2019 dollars ) in 2005 to $ 80.68 in 2019 .
A Supreme Court ruling in 2011 — the same year that Ohio ’ s Legislature passed a criminal justice reform package — was supposed to mark a turning point for prison overcrowding .
That June , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overcrowded prisons in California violated the constitutional ban on “ cruel and unusual punishment.
” Advocates hoped the ruling would push other states to reduce their own prison populations or embolden judges to release prisoners if conditions got too egregious .
But legislative reforms didn ’ t always significantly reduce prison populations .
In Ohio , it took four years for incarceration numbers to decline .
As prisons approached 130 % of capacity in 2016 — the level at which experts agree overcrowding becomes an urgent problem — Ohio still declined to build @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 , once incarceration had edged downward , it closed an 800-bed minimum security prison in southeast Ohio and forced other minimum-security prisons like Marion to absorb more inmates .
During the prison-building boom of the 1980s and 1990s , many states shifted from individual cells to dorm spaces .
Dorms offered the “ cheapest way to warehouse people , ” said Joanna Carns , the former head of Ohio ’ s Correctional Institutions Inspection Committee .
Carns resigned from the Ohio post in 2016 under pressure from the Legislature , which criticized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inspecting individual prisons by analyzing statewide issues like overcrowding .
She is now the lead corrections ombuds for the state of Washington .
The American Correctional Association , the prison accrediting body , tried to discourage dorm housing 30 years ago , stressing that “ the number of inmates rooming together should be kept as low as possible.
” But the “ dollars and cents ” logic of dorms , as Carns put it , was too appealing .
Compliance with ACA standards generally gives state prison officials some protection in Eighth Amendment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ cruel and unusual.
” But even the 2011 Supreme Court ruling , declaring California ’ s overcrowding an Eighth Amendment violation , based its determination on prison officials ’ capacity estimates , not personal space .
With little pressure to protect inmates ’ space , even the ACA over the years decreased its recommended square footage per inmate in cells holding multiple prisoners from 50 square feet in 1984 to 25 square feet in 2012 .
“ Nobody is going to let you build more than the minimum standard requirement , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the DLR Group , a prison design and consulting firm .
Advocates have argued for years that overcrowded prisons threaten inmate health .
This was the core argument in the 2011 Supreme Court decision about California : that the state could not adequately provide health care in a prison with twice as many inmates as it was supposed to have .
And experts had long ago learned that controlling disease outbreaks in prison is a prerequisite to controlling them elsewhere .
“ A locus of HIV infection was in prisons and jails .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ get control of the epidemic in the United States until people began to focus their attention on getting control of the epidemic inside prisons and jails , ” Williams , of UCSF , told ProPublica .
“ Same for hepatitis C , same for tuberculosis.
” Prison architects assume that medical staff can treat any infectious disease that gets in .
They don ’ t design facilities for large numbers of people suffering a new and mysterious disease .
The novel coronavirus was something prisons , literally , were not designed to manage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long before Thompson arrived there .
Prison management noted in a 2011 inspection report that “ the increase in population ” had so badly overloaded the water system that hot water was unavailable at peak shower times .
Smith , the ODRC spokeswoman , said the issue was fixed in 2016 .
In recent years , multiple inmates told ProPublica , the ceiling of the ground-floor dorms would shake when the inmates above got out of their bunks after daily roll call .
When the coronavirus surfaced , Marion and other packed prisons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ isolating potentially sick inmates — or quarantining them .
According to the Marion Star , the prison had nine infirmary beds to serve its 2,500 prisoners .
Once those beds were filled , inmates who raised concerns about coronavirus symptoms were sent to the prison ’ s only other secluded part : solitary confinement .
Inmates at Marion told ProPublica that isolation cells — known as “ the hole ” — are regarded as punishment and avoided at all costs .
One inmate told ProPublica that during a brief stay in medical isolation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said that they did not report virus symptoms to prison staff because they didn ’ t want to spend time in solitary .
In March , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned prisons that inmates ’ fear of medical isolation could encourage the virus ’ s spread .
When Marion ran out of cells in “ the hole , ” it packed potentially infected inmates into classrooms , 20 to a room , to sleep .
( In many other overcrowded prisons and jails , that wouldn ’ t be possible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have already been turned into bed space . )
Finally , the prison grouped all inmates into clusters of 100 to 120 men , based on the dorms or cellblocks they were already living in , and then tried to keep the “ households ” isolated from each other .
Marion officials made fruitless attempts to create space .
Hallways were marked off with spots 6 feet apart as a guide for inmates walking outside of their cells .
“ We ’ ve all just gotten up from being in bed areas that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all day , ” inmate Jonathan White recalled .
The ODRC insists that while the whole facility was under isolation , every inmate got a daily temperature and symptoms check .
“ The only individuals who were not symptom screened during this time period were those who were recovered patients , ” Smith told ProPublica .
But all 10 inmates interviewed by ProPublica described infrequent temperature checks and said they were not routinely asked about other symptoms .
One inmate , who asked to remain anonymous to protect his future chances of parole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked about symptoms beyond fever .
Chris Mabe , the head of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association , which represents Ohio prison guards , told ProPublica he believed daily checks were unlikely .
“ We ’ ve been understaffed and overpopulated for decades in the state of Ohio , ” he said , and the coronavirus exacerbated staffing shortages .
“ I just can ’ t believe that every day that there are five or six people for medical walking around having interviews with 2,000 or 3,000 inmates to see if they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Marion was slowly returning to normal .
As of May 21 , the ODRC reported that 2,101 of Marion ’ s inmates had recovered from COVID-19 .
By June 12 , that number had declined slightly to 2,088 .
Many areas of the facility have allowed inmates to move around normally at mealtimes , though the Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant dorm , where Thompson lives , is still under restricted movement .
In theory , masks are mandatory , but some inmates have stopped using them and say guards do not appear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ODRC ’ s Smith told ProPublica that “ if an individual is found to not be wearing his mask , he is asked and reminded to put it on.
” Thompson is still wearing a mask everywhere .
The coronavirus outbreak , and the emotional roller coaster of believing he ’ d tested negative and then being told the opposite , has made him “ paranoid.
” He ’ s washed his cloth masks so many times that the cotton has begun to fray .
Ohio , like many states , used emergency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ populations during the outbreak .
The result : From March 24 to May 5 , Ohio ’ s prison population shrunk by about 1,582 prisoners — a 3 % decline .
Although Marion has an older population than most state prisons , inmates there did not hugely benefit from the release policy .
The prison ’ s population dropped by 76 prisoners , or the same 3 % as elsewhere .
The reason is simple .
Older inmates are often serving long sentences for serious crimes , and governors and state legislatures are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if their crimes were committed decades ago .
The prisoners most vulnerable to the coronavirus are among the least likely to be released by either emergency clemency or many reform bills .
Meanwhile , building new prisons is almost certainly out of the question .
Ohio Gov .
Mike DeWine , like most other governors , is looking ahead to drastically reduced tax revenues and already making deep budget cuts .
Before the coronavirus , Ohio was accepting bids to build a new prison to replace Pickaway .
“ For the planning of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give people some living space so that they can self-separate , ” Cupples , the architect , told ProPublica .
But in April , because of the expected budget shortfall , the state government rejected all bids for the project .
“ The Pickaway project was delayed until further information is provided on Ohio ’ s capital bill , ” Smith confirmed to ProPublica .
Ohio will keep making do with what it has .
Do you have access to information about prisons and COVID-19 that should be public ?
Email dara.lind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ send tips and documents to ProPublica securely .

This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Jason Thompson lay awake in his dormitory bed in the Marion Correctional Institution in central Ohio, immobilized by pain, listening to the sounds of “hacking and gurgling” as the novel coronavirus passed from bunk to bunk like a game of “sick hot potato,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Thompson lives in Marion’s dorm for disabled and older prisoners — a place he described to ProPublica in a phone call as the prison’s “old folks home” — where 199 inmates, many frail and some in wheelchairs, were isolated in a space designed for 170. As the disease spread among bunks spaced 3 or 4 feet apart, Thompson said he could see bedridden inmates with full-blown symptoms and others “in varying stages of recovery. While the rest of us are rarely 6 feet away from anyone else, sick or not.”
“Prison is not designed for social distancing,” said Thompson, who is serving a de facto life sentence (his first parole hearing will come in 2087) for aggravated murder and kidnapping. “That’s not the system’s fault. That’s not the prison’s fault. It couldn’t have been designed with the vision of one day having to social distance for 6 feet. … It squeezed as many of us in here as it could.”
Nationwide, Marion ranked as the largest recorded coronavirus outbreak of any U.S. institution in a New York Times analysis. Three other prisons, including another packed one in Scotia Township, Ohio, were in the top five. The fifth is the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
With fears that a second wave of infection will erupt in the fall, some state corrections officials are realizing the coronavirus is a wake-up call, forcing them to confront the problem of prison overcrowding. They’re considering how to achieve social distancing in confined spaces, where inmates are unable to do the only thing that has proven effective in stopping the viral spread.
States and the federal government responded to the initial onset of the coronavirus by releasing some individual prisoners who were particularly vulnerable, although ProPublica found the federal directive was undermined by secretive Bureau of Prisons guidance limiting early release. But even when it looked like the first wave of the coronavirus was subsiding outside prison walls, cases in prisons and jails kept climbing. A Times analysis found a 68% increase in prison and jail cases in May.
In light of this, experts are going further than calling for case-by-case releases, acknowledging that prisons simply have to hold fewer people overall. Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel told ProPublica that he expects his state to incorporate the need for social distancing into its definition of what a facility’s acceptable operating capacity is. Staying under the new capacity limits will require prison populations to be reduced.
“When you look at this objectively, you have to reduce population,” Wetzel said. “Because it’s not realistic to say, for the next 12 months, the whole system in Pennsylvania is going to be locked down so we can mitigate the spread.”
Reducing populations has proven challenging in states like Ohio, where the overall prison population has declined while the inmate count at Marion has increased. When Ohio addressed overcrowding of female inmates by converting a minimum-security men’s prison into a second women’s prison, some of the displaced men were sent to Marion instead; the same thing happened when the state closed a minimum-security prison for cost reasons in 2018. Looming fiscal crises in states across the country are ratcheting up pressure to further cut prison budgets, and efforts to build more prisons are on hold.
Ohio has shelved plans to rebuild the overstuffed Pickaway Correctional Institution (site of the second-largest recorded coronavirus outbreak in the Times analysis) and has no current plans to permanently address overcrowding at Marion.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has defended its approach to the coronavirus outbreak and answered several questions from ProPublica about specific allegations from inmates. On the issue of overcrowding in general, spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said: “The challenge of any correctional agency is to keep up with the demands of the courts and the criminal justice system. Space allocation has been and will always be a challenge for any correctional system across the country.”
Overcrowded prisons are nothing new. But while Ohio’s overall prison population is the lowest it has been in since 2006 because of modest criminal justice and sentencing reforms, Marion’s numbers have grown over the last decade, from 2,300 in March 2010 to 2,538 at the end of March 2020, according to official reports.
Ohio stopped reporting the capacity estimates of its prisons to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015, but an inspection that year showed Marion approaching twice its official capacity. More recent figures show Marion was at 153% of that capacity at the end of March, on the eve of the coronavirus’s arrival. The ODRC’s Smith told ProPublica that Ohio no longer used that capacity measure, because “the design of a facility 60 years ago is not meaningful today due to the changing nature of the populations.”
The same dynamic has played out in other states. Thirty-two states reduced their prison capacity from 2011 to 2018, according to a ProPublica analysis of federal data. Prisons in 21 of those states became, on net, more crowded as a result. Eighteen states that had closed prisons were at or above 100% of their remaining facilities’ official capacity estimates. (Ohio is not counted in this analysis. It is one of two states, along with Connecticut, that do not report any capacity numbers to the federal government. The ODRC’s Smith told ProPublica that Ohio stopped calculating capacity because “there is no longer a national standard.”)
The inmates in those overstuffed prisons became kindling in the coronavirus fire.
“The only thing that we have found that works right now, while we don’t have appropriate therapeutics and we don’t have a vaccine, is social distancing,” said Brie Williams, director of the Criminal Justice & Health Program at the University of California, San Francisco. “And in order to do that, you have to be able to get the physical distance between people to make it happen.”
By the time Marion conducted mass testing in late April, the state reported that over 2,000 prisoners — about 80% of the population — had contracted the virus. Prison authorities concluded that it was easier to isolate infected prisoners by keeping them in their assigned dorms and cellblocks and moving the few healthy prisoners into the gym.
Marion’s high infection rate outraged inmate Jonathan White, a self-described “news junkie” who took advantage of the prison’s temporary addition of CNN and Fox News to the TV options to educate himself about the virus, even as he recovered from it.
Ohio recorded 76 prison coronavirus deaths as of June 12, including 35 at Pickaway and 13 at Marion. Both facilities are overcrowded. Pickaway, like Marion, was over 50% above the last-recorded capacity estimate as of the end of March.
Thompson said he had only a vague sense of what was happening around him as the sickest were carted out and prisoners were moved around as test results came back.
When a Marion guard died of the coronavirus — the first fatality of any guard or inmate in the state — on April 8, he heard the news from his girlfriend in a phone call. “A week or so later,” he said, “they had a moment of silence for his passing.”
Thompson himself was initially told he’d tested negative; he spent two nights in the gym, where, he said, cots were actually spaced 6 feet apart. Then he and a few other inmates were told there had been a mistake — they were infected and had to move back to their original dorms and cellblocks.
The reversal devastated Thompson, who told ProPublica he’d spent years trying to get over a reflexive distrust of prison or medical authorities. “I am not ashamed,” he wrote in a May Facebook post, “to admit to having had thoughts of suicide.”
In most states, there’s officially no such thing as an overcrowded prison, since there’s no limit to how many people can be put in a facility.
The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, the DOJ arm that collects state criminal justice data, has three metrics for measuring prison capacity. In practice, all of these are subjective assessments made by a state’s prison officials. Even so, many prison systems are at or over 100% of reported capacity.
When state budget crunches hit, as they did during the 2008-09 Great Recession, they can close prisons whether or not their prison population is actually declining. And closing a prison is quicker, and less controversial, than passing a bill to shorten future prison sentences (or offer good-time credits for current prisoners) in the hopes of reducing incarceration down the road. A 2016 RAND study found that 31 states had closed prisons between 2007 and 2012 because of budget constraints.
The most common response to budget crunches, RAND found, was closing facilities and then cramming more inmates into the remaining ones. Since 2004, Michigan, for example, has closed prisons that held more than 15,000 beds while adding about 5,000 beds to the facilities it kept open. (Chris Gautz, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Corrections, told ProPublica that since 2010, all prison closures have been offset by reductions in inmate population.)
In states like Ohio, where incarceration rates were still growing in the late 2000s, adding beds stalled the need for new prisons but came at a cost. “Crowding gives the state a perverse bargain,” the then-director of the Ohio Sentencing Commission wrote in a 2011 report. “Extra inmates add relatively little to total costs. Adding inmates in an over-capacity system only costs about $16/day in food, clothing, and medical care.” Adjusting for inflation, ODRC reports analyzed by ProPublica show that the per-day cost to house an inmate in an Ohio prison dropped from $90.55 (2019 dollars) in 2005 to $80.68 in 2019.
A Supreme Court ruling in 2011 — the same year that Ohio’s Legislature passed a criminal justice reform package — was supposed to mark a turning point for prison overcrowding. That June, the court upheld a lower court ruling that overcrowded prisons in California violated the constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.” Advocates hoped the ruling would push other states to reduce their own prison populations or embolden judges to release prisoners if conditions got too egregious.
But legislative reforms didn’t always significantly reduce prison populations. In Ohio, it took four years for incarceration numbers to decline. As prisons approached 130% of capacity in 2016 — the level at which experts agree overcrowding becomes an urgent problem — Ohio still declined to build new prisons or release prisoners. In 2018, once incarceration had edged downward, it closed an 800-bed minimum security prison in southeast Ohio and forced other minimum-security prisons like Marion to absorb more inmates.
During the prison-building boom of the 1980s and 1990s, many states shifted from individual cells to dorm spaces. Dorms offered the “cheapest way to warehouse people,” said Joanna Carns, the former head of Ohio’s Correctional Institutions Inspection Committee. Carns resigned from the Ohio post in 2016 under pressure from the Legislature, which criticized her for going beyond her mandate of inspecting individual prisons by analyzing statewide issues like overcrowding. She is now the lead corrections ombuds for the state of Washington.
The American Correctional Association, the prison accrediting body, tried to discourage dorm housing 30 years ago, stressing that “the number of inmates rooming together should be kept as low as possible.” But the “dollars and cents” logic of dorms, as Carns put it, was too appealing.
Compliance with ACA standards generally gives state prison officials some protection in Eighth Amendment lawsuits from inmates claiming prison conditions are “cruel and unusual.” But even the 2011 Supreme Court ruling, declaring California’s overcrowding an Eighth Amendment violation, based its determination on prison officials’ capacity estimates, not personal space.
With little pressure to protect inmates’ space, even the ACA over the years decreased its recommended square footage per inmate in cells holding multiple prisoners from 50 square feet in 1984 to 25 square feet in 2012.
“Nobody is going to let you build more than the minimum standard requirement,” said Andrew Cupples, an architect with the DLR Group, a prison design and consulting firm.
Advocates have argued for years that overcrowded prisons threaten inmate health. This was the core argument in the 2011 Supreme Court decision about California: that the state could not adequately provide health care in a prison with twice as many inmates as it was supposed to have. And experts had long ago learned that controlling disease outbreaks in prison is a prerequisite to controlling them elsewhere.
“A locus of HIV infection was in prisons and jails. And we really were not able to get control of the epidemic in the United States until people began to focus their attention on getting control of the epidemic inside prisons and jails,” Williams, of UCSF, told ProPublica. “Same for hepatitis C, same for tuberculosis.”
Prison architects assume that medical staff can treat any infectious disease that gets in. They don’t design facilities for large numbers of people suffering a new and mysterious disease. The novel coronavirus was something prisons, literally, were not designed to manage.
Overcrowding was a concern at Marion long before Thompson arrived there.
Prison management noted in a 2011 inspection report that “the increase in population” had so badly overloaded the water system that hot water was unavailable at peak shower times. Smith, the ODRC spokeswoman, said the issue was fixed in 2016.
In recent years, multiple inmates told ProPublica, the ceiling of the ground-floor dorms would shake when the inmates above got out of their bunks after daily roll call.
When the coronavirus surfaced, Marion and other packed prisons and jails had no good options for isolating potentially sick inmates — or quarantining them. According to the Marion Star, the prison had nine infirmary beds to serve its 2,500 prisoners.
Once those beds were filled, inmates who raised concerns about coronavirus symptoms were sent to the prison’s only other secluded part: solitary confinement.
Inmates at Marion told ProPublica that isolation cells — known as “the hole” — are regarded as punishment and avoided at all costs. One inmate told ProPublica that during a brief stay in medical isolation, he lost phone privileges. Others said that they did not report virus symptoms to prison staff because they didn’t want to spend time in solitary.
In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned prisons that inmates’ fear of medical isolation could encourage the virus’s spread.
When Marion ran out of cells in “the hole,” it packed potentially infected inmates into classrooms, 20 to a room, to sleep. (In many other overcrowded prisons and jails, that wouldn’t be possible — spaces like classrooms and recreational areas have already been turned into bed space.) Finally, the prison grouped all inmates into clusters of 100 to 120 men, based on the dorms or cellblocks they were already living in, and then tried to keep the “households” isolated from each other.
Marion officials made fruitless attempts to create space. Hallways were marked off with spots 6 feet apart as a guide for inmates walking outside of their cells. “We’ve all just gotten up from being in bed areas that were 2 feet apart from each other all day,” inmate Jonathan White recalled.
The ODRC insists that while the whole facility was under isolation, every inmate got a daily temperature and symptoms check. “The only individuals who were not symptom screened during this time period were those who were recovered patients,” Smith told ProPublica. But all 10 inmates interviewed by ProPublica described infrequent temperature checks and said they were not routinely asked about other symptoms. One inmate, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his future chances of parole, told ProPublica he had never been asked about symptoms beyond fever.
Chris Mabe, the head of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, which represents Ohio prison guards, told ProPublica he believed daily checks were unlikely. “We’ve been understaffed and overpopulated for decades in the state of Ohio,” he said, and the coronavirus exacerbated staffing shortages. “I just can’t believe that every day that there are five or six people for medical walking around having interviews with 2,000 or 3,000 inmates to see if they’re symptomatic.”
By late May, Marion was slowly returning to normal. As of May 21, the ODRC reported that 2,101 of Marion’s inmates had recovered from COVID-19. By June 12, that number had declined slightly to 2,088.
Many areas of the facility have allowed inmates to move around normally at mealtimes, though the Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant dorm, where Thompson lives, is still under restricted movement. In theory, masks are mandatory, but some inmates have stopped using them and say guards do not appear to be enforcing the rule. The ODRC’s Smith told ProPublica that “if an individual is found to not be wearing his mask, he is asked and reminded to put it on.”
Thompson is still wearing a mask everywhere. The coronavirus outbreak, and the emotional roller coaster of believing he’d tested negative and then being told the opposite, has made him “paranoid.” He’s washed his cloth masks so many times that the cotton has begun to fray.
Ohio, like many states, used emergency powers to try to thin out prison populations during the outbreak. The result: From March 24 to May 5, Ohio’s prison population shrunk by about 1,582 prisoners — a 3% decline. Although Marion has an older population than most state prisons, inmates there did not hugely benefit from the release policy. The prison’s population dropped by 76 prisoners, or the same 3% as elsewhere.
The reason is simple. Older inmates are often serving long sentences for serious crimes, and governors and state legislatures are still afraid to release violent criminals even if their crimes were committed decades ago. The prisoners most vulnerable to the coronavirus are among the least likely to be released by either emergency clemency or many reform bills.
Meanwhile, building new prisons is almost certainly out of the question. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, like most other governors, is looking ahead to drastically reduced tax revenues and already making deep budget cuts.
Before the coronavirus, Ohio was accepting bids to build a new prison to replace Pickaway. “For the planning of the new facility, everybody agreed, give people some living space so that they can self-separate,” Cupples, the architect, told ProPublica.
But in April, because of the expected budget shortfall, the state government rejected all bids for the project.
“The Pickaway project was delayed until further information is provided on Ohio’s capital bill,” Smith confirmed to ProPublica. Ohio will keep making do with what it has.
Do you have access to information about prisons and COVID-19 that should be public? Email [email protected]. Here’s how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-06-18--NE GOP Guv Threatens To Withhold COVID Relief Funds From Counties Requiring Masks

Nebraska Gov .
Pete Ricketts ( R ) is threatening to withhold federal COVID-19 relief funds from counties that require @ @ @ @ @ inside government buildings and courthouses .
“ Counties are not prohibited from requiring masks , @ @ @ @ @ Act money , they have to be fully open , and that means they can @ @ @ @ @ wearing a mask , ” Taylor Gage , a spokesperson for Ricketts , said in @ @ @ @ @ according to local reports .
Ricketts “ encourages people to wear a mask , ” @ @ @ @ @ does not believe that failure to wear a mask should be the basis for denying @ @ @ @ @ received approximately $ 1 billion from the CARES Act , of which $ 100 million @ @ @ @ @ at the governor ’ s discretion .
“ It sure would have been nice to @ @ @ @ @ with our health director and County Board and have a conversation about what to do @ @ @ @ @ do it , ” he told the Omaha World-Herald .

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) is threatening to withhold federal COVID-19 relief funds from counties that require people to wear masks while inside government buildings and courthouses.
“Counties are not prohibited from requiring masks, but if they want CARES Act money, they have to be fully open, and that means they cannot deny service for not wearing a mask,” Taylor Gage, a spokesperson for Ricketts, said in a statement on Thursday, according to local reports.
Ricketts “encourages people to wear a mask,” Gage asserted, “but does not believe that failure to wear a mask should be the basis for denying taxpayers’ services.”
Nebraska received approximately $1 billion from the CARES Act, of which $100 million may be allocated to counties at the governor’s discretion.
Dakota County Assessor Jeff Curry blasted Ricketts’ mandate.
“It sure would have been nice to be able to sit down with our health director and County Board and have a conversation about what to do, without being mandated to do it,” he told the Omaha World-Herald.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-06-18--GOP Governors Bail On Culture War, Give Ground To Hotspot Cities As COVID Cases Mount

As Texas and Arizona face surging outbreaks of COVID-19 , the two sunbelt states ’ biggest cities have a simple request for their governors : give us back the power to slow the spread .
The battles have played out over the past days and weeks , as mayors and county executives have signed letters , issued angry statements , and agitated for the right to issue local public health regulations during a pandemic .
But over the past two days , as hospitalizations in the two states ’ biggest cities mounted , the governors have also begun to relent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ high for case totals , Governor Greg Abbott ( R ) signaled his approval for a way around the state ’ s ban on municipalities enforcing their own mask-wearing regulations .
And in Arizona , Governor Greg Ducey ( R ) late Wednesday night allowed cities to start issuing mandatory public mask-wearing regulations , as the state tallied a one-day record-high 2,519 new virus cases on Wednesday .
The phenomenon appears to be limited to states where case growth is increasing at a high rate , with other GOP governors signaling their ongoing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In Nebraska , for example , Governor Pete Ricketts ( R ) reportedly told local officials that cities and towns which issue mask-wearing regulations would not receive federal coronavirus aid money .
But in Texas and Arizona , the split pits largely Democratic cities against red-state governors , who have begun to budge towards allowing the municipalities to issue their own regulations , and enforce them , as case counts — and , crucially , hospitalizations — have mounted .
Dr. Joe Gerald , Program Director of Public Health Policy & Management at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Public Health , told TPM that the situation would be helped by dealing with “ low-hanging fruit — requiring mask-wearing in public spaces , doing more to limit or ban large gatherings to prevent super-spreading events ” — things that would mitigate the spread of COVID-19 without issuing a shelter-in-place order .
“ But we ’ re not doing these easy things in Arizona , ” Gerald added .
With the governor ’ s go-ahead , city mayors in Arizona have now begun to issue regulations , including for the cities of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tempe , Arizona mayor Mark Mitchell said in a statement that he would begin to require public mask wearing on Thursday morning .
Phoenix — the epicenter of the state ’ s epidemic — will also institute a mask-wearing requirement .
“ The Governor has stated that he believes that the ‘ government closest to the people ’ is the most effective .
We agree , and we hope that the expertise of cities is considered as we continue our fight against a virus that has killed too many Arizonans , ” Phoenix @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a statement .
Governor Ducey issued the order stripping Arizona localities of the authority to issue public health regulations that went beyond the governor ’ s orders in late March , after several cities had already begun to issue their own regulations .
In Tucson , for example , Mayor Regina Romero ordered businesses like gyms and nightclubs closed in mid-March — weeks before Ducey acted .
Will Humble , a former director of Arizona ’ s Department of Health , noted to TPM that the stay-at-home order prevented cities from acting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a patchwork of regulations that only exist in areas with outbreaks .
When Ducey lifted the stay-at-home order on May 15 , the restriction stayed in place — limiting municipalities to enacting rules that did not go beyond state-level policy .
“ The stay-at-home order affected all jurisdictions , and that stay-at-home order said that cities can ’ t do anything over and beyond what was in the order , ” Humble said , adding that additional steps like limiting capacity at nightclubs or crowds remain beyond municipal reach .
Texas had a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slightly more narrow .
Governor Abbott initially allowed localities to enforce penalties on not wearing masks , before stripping them of that authority in an April 27 executive order that also specified the terms under which businesses in the state could reopen .
That order said that “ no jurisdiction can impose a civil or criminal penalty for failure to wear a face covering.
” This week , a bipartisan group of mayors sent a letter to Gov .
Greg Abbott ( R ) demanding that he allow them to set up and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ If you do not have plans to mandate face coverings statewide , we ask that you restore the ability for local authorities to enforce the wearing of face coverings in public venues where physical distancing can not be practiced , ” read the missive .
But an elected San Antonio judge in the Bexar County district court found a way out .
The judge , a Democrat , reportedly issued an order on Wednesday that played on a loophole in Abbott ’ s order , which only banned local regulations as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Bexar County judge ’ s order fines local businesses $ 1,000 if they don ’ t require employees and visitors to wear face masks when less than six feet apart .
Abbott expressed a mixture of relief and gloating at the judge ’ s move in a Wednesday radio interview , saying “ there has been a plan in place all along that all that was needed was for local officials to actually read the plan that was issued by the state of Texas.
” “ It turned out earlier today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finally figured that out , ” he added , before going on to endorse and claim credit for the judge ’ s order by saying that “ just like they can require people to wear shoes and shirts , these businesses can require people to wear face masks if they come into their businesses .
Now , local officials are just now realizing that that was authorized.
” A Dallas county judge said the city would implement the same order .
Gerald argued that the region was a victim of its own success @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kept the virus at bay , but did not extinguish it .
“ People looked around and said , ‘ what happened , why did we make all this sacrifice ?
’ The hospitals weren ’ t crowded , people aren ’ t dying , ” he said .
“ That success has bred the failure we ’ re in now .
”

As Texas and Arizona face surging outbreaks of COVID-19, the two sunbelt states’ biggest cities have a simple request for their governors: give us back the power to slow the spread.
The battles have played out over the past days and weeks, as mayors and county executives have signed letters, issued angry statements, and agitated for the right to issue local public health regulations during a pandemic.
But over the past two days, as hospitalizations in the two states’ biggest cities mounted, the governors have also begun to relent.
As Texas doubled its previous one-day high for case totals, Governor Greg Abbott (R) signaled his approval for a way around the state’s ban on municipalities enforcing their own mask-wearing regulations.
And in Arizona, Governor Greg Ducey (R) late Wednesday night allowed cities to start issuing mandatory public mask-wearing regulations, as the state tallied a one-day record-high 2,519 new virus cases on Wednesday.
The phenomenon appears to be limited to states where case growth is increasing at a high rate, with other GOP governors signaling their ongoing commitment to reining in local officials. In Nebraska, for example, Governor Pete Ricketts (R) reportedly told local officials that cities and towns which issue mask-wearing regulations would not receive federal coronavirus aid money.
But in Texas and Arizona, the split pits largely Democratic cities against red-state governors, who have begun to budge towards allowing the municipalities to issue their own regulations, and enforce them, as case counts — and, crucially, hospitalizations — have mounted.
Dr. Joe Gerald, Program Director of Public Health Policy & Management at the University of Arizona’s College of Public Health, told TPM that the situation would be helped by dealing with “low-hanging fruit — requiring mask-wearing in public spaces, doing more to limit or ban large gatherings to prevent super-spreading events” — things that would mitigate the spread of COVID-19 without issuing a shelter-in-place order.
“But we’re not doing these easy things in Arizona,” Gerald added.
With the governor’s go-ahead, city mayors in Arizona have now begun to issue regulations, including for the cities of Tucson, Flagstaff, and Mesa.
Tempe, Arizona mayor Mark Mitchell said in a statement that he would begin to require public mask wearing on Thursday morning. Phoenix — the epicenter of the state’s epidemic — will also institute a mask-wearing requirement.
“The Governor has stated that he believes that the ‘government closest to the people’ is the most effective. We agree, and we hope that the expertise of cities is considered as we continue our fight against a virus that has killed too many Arizonans,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (D) said in a statement.
Governor Ducey issued the order stripping Arizona localities of the authority to issue public health regulations that went beyond the governor’s orders in late March, after several cities had already begun to issue their own regulations. In Tucson, for example, Mayor Regina Romero ordered businesses like gyms and nightclubs closed in mid-March — weeks before Ducey acted.
Will Humble, a former director of Arizona’s Department of Health, noted to TPM that the stay-at-home order prevented cities from acting, but that its removal could create a patchwork of regulations that only exist in areas with outbreaks.
When Ducey lifted the stay-at-home order on May 15, the restriction stayed in place — limiting municipalities to enacting rules that did not go beyond state-level policy.
“The stay-at-home order affected all jurisdictions, and that stay-at-home order said that cities can’t do anything over and beyond what was in the order,” Humble said, adding that additional steps like limiting capacity at nightclubs or crowds remain beyond municipal reach.
Texas had a similar tack, albeit one that was slightly more narrow.
Governor Abbott initially allowed localities to enforce penalties on not wearing masks, before stripping them of that authority in an April 27 executive order that also specified the terms under which businesses in the state could reopen.
That order said that “no jurisdiction can impose a civil or criminal penalty for failure to wear a face covering.”
This week, a bipartisan group of mayors sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott (R) demanding that he allow them to set up and enforce local regulations on mask-wearing in public.
“If you do not have plans to mandate face coverings statewide, we ask that you restore the ability for local authorities to enforce the wearing of face coverings in public venues where physical distancing cannot be practiced,” read the missive.
But an elected San Antonio judge in the Bexar County district court found a way out. The judge, a Democrat, reportedly issued an order on Wednesday that played on a loophole in Abbott’s order, which only banned local regulations as they pertained to fines for individual people.
The Bexar County judge’s order fines local businesses $1,000 if they don’t require employees and visitors to wear face masks when less than six feet apart.
Abbott expressed a mixture of relief and gloating at the judge’s move in a Wednesday radio interview, saying “there has been a plan in place all along that all that was needed was for local officials to actually read the plan that was issued by the state of Texas.”
“It turned out earlier today that the county judge in Bexar County finally figured that out,” he added, before going on to endorse and claim credit for the judge’s order by saying that “just like they can require people to wear shoes and shirts, these businesses can require people to wear face masks if they come into their businesses. Now, local officials are just now realizing that that was authorized.”
A Dallas county judge said the city would implement the same order.
Gerald argued that the region was a victim of its own success in issuing stay-at-home orders early on that kept the virus at bay, but did not extinguish it.
“People looked around and said, ‘what happened, why did we make all this sacrifice?’ The hospitals weren’t crowded, people aren’t dying,” he said. “That success has bred the failure we’re in now.”