Rehab on hold: COVID devastated prison learning programs
In a nation that incarcerates roughly 2 million people, the coronavirus pandemic was a nightmare for prisons. The highly contagious virus disrupted the very educational and rehabilitative programs prisoners most desperately need. Here are some of the prisoners grappling with the fallout.
A copy of Leonardo da Vinci's, "The Last Supper," hangs on the wall of Valley State Prison's chapel in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. In a nation that incarcerates roughly 2 million people, the COVID pandemic was a nightmare for prisons. Overcrowding, subpar medical care and the ebb and flow of prison populations left most places unprepared to handle the spread of the highly contagious virus. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Officer Jimmy Bliatout closes a gate after letting a prisoner enter the yard at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Prisoners stand with at-risk shelter dogs during a program designed to train the dogs to be adoptable at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. In a nation that incarcerates roughly 2 million people, the COVID pandemic was a nightmare for prisons. Overcrowding, subpar medical care and the ebb and flow of prison populations left most places unprepared to handle the spread of the highly contagious virus. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Filmmaker Sol Guy gets a hug from a prisoner during a screening of his personal documentary film, "The Death of My Two Fathers," at Valley State Prison's gymnasium in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Rapper Bobby Gonzalez, 34, performs in front of a group of prisoners at Valley State Prison's gymnasium in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Gonzalez was released on parole from the prison in September of 2019, after serving 16 years of a 25-year sentence as a juvenile offender. He left a mark at the prison and on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, emerging as an established artist by the name of "Bobby Gonz." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Prisoner Daniel Henson, 40, holds up an instant photo of him taken with filmmaker Sol Guy after a screening of Guy's personal documentary film in Valley State Prison's gymnasium in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Filmmaker Sol Guy stands for a photo at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, after the advance screening of his personal film, "The Death of My Two Fathers," at the prison. The screening was held in the prison's gymnasium which, until that day, had been closed for recreational activities like basketball as part of ongoing COVID restrictions. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Miguel Rodriguez, a 24-year-old resident at Valley State Prison, eats his popcorn while watching a personal documentary film, "The Death of My Two Fathers," by director Sol Guy in the prison's gymnasium in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Valley State Prison's gymnasium is pictured in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. The gym had been closed for recreational activities like basketball as part of ongoing COVID restrictions. About 150 prisoners were allowed in for director Sol Guy’s deeply personal film – individual bags of buttered popcorn and cold beverages included with admission – their excitement palpable after many months of isolation. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Prisoner Gabriel Aquila shows a collection of 3D origami figures he made at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. In a nation that incarcerates roughly 2 million people, the COVID pandemic was a nightmare for prisons. Overcrowding, subpar medical care and the ebb and flow of prison populations left most places unprepared to handle the spread of the highly contagious virus. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A shaft of light falls on prisoners as they watch a documentary film produced by director Sol Guy in Valley State Prison's gymnasium in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. The gym had been closed for recreational activities like basketball as part of ongoing COVID restrictions. About 150 prisoners were allowed in for the film – individual bags of buttered popcorn and cold beverages included with admission – their excitement palpable after many months of isolation. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
50-year-old prisoner Ray Lincoln, left, sobs while being comforted by Aru in Valley State Prison's gymnasium after a guided meditation led by her in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Prisoners watch a personal documentary film, "The Death of My Two Fathers," by director Sol Guy in the prison's gymnasium in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. The gym had been closed for recreational activities like basketball as part of ongoing COVID restrictions. About 150 prisoners were allowed in for the film – individual bags of buttered popcorn and cold beverages included with admission – their excitement palpable after many months of isolation. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Rapper Bobby Gonzalez, a former prisoner at Valley State Prison, gets emotional as he enters the prison yard in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Gonzalez was released on parole from the prison in September of 2019, after serving 16 years of a 25-year sentence as a juvenile offender. He left a mark at the prison and on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, emerging as an established artist by the name of "Bobby Gonz." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Rapper Bobby Gonzalez, right, a former prisoner at Valley State Prison, hugs resident Jesus Cecena, 61, in the prison yard in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Gonzalez was released on parole from the prison in September of 2019, after serving 16 years of a 25-year sentence as a juvenile offender. He left a mark at the prison and on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, emerging as an established artist by the name of "Bobby Gonz." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Prisoner Miguel Nunez, left, watches as Rufus Delgado plays with Nala, an at-risk shelter dog being trained to be adopted, at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. In a nation that incarcerates roughly 2 million people, the COVID pandemic was a nightmare for prisons. Overcrowding, subpar medical care and the ebb and flow of prison populations left most places unprepared to handle the spread of the highly contagious virus. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Prisoners form a large circle during a guided meditation in Valley State Prison's gymnasium in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. In a nation that incarcerates roughly 2 million people, the COVID pandemic was a nightmare for prisons. The highly contagious virus disrupted the very educational and rehabilitative programs prisoners most desperately need. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A prisoner's jacket hangs on a chair during a special screening of Sol Guy's personal documentary film at Valley State Prison's gymnasium in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. The gym had been closed for recreational activities like basketball as part of ongoing COVID restrictions. About 150 prisoners were allowed in for the film – individual bags of buttered popcorn and cold beverages included with admission – their excitement palpable after many months of isolation. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A worn-out bulletin with COVID-19 preventive measures is seen on the door of a chapel at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. In a nation that incarcerates roughly 2 million people, the COVID pandemic was a nightmare for prisons. The highly contagious virus disrupted the very educational and rehabilitative programs prisoners most desperately need. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Joseph Sena, 27, walks to his cell at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Sena spent years trying to make himself a better person after spending nearly half of his 27 years in prison for killing a man. He took courses in poetry and mental health and other topics at a central California prison, hoping to be seen as fit for parole and ready to live outside prison if the day he was free ever came. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Vehicles carrying the crew members of Quiet and Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) head toward Valley State Prison early in the morning for a special film tour in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. In a nation that incarcerates roughly 2 million people, the COVID pandemic was a nightmare for prisons. Overcrowding, subpar medical care and the ebb and flow of prison populations left most places unprepared to handle the spread of the highly contagious virus. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Joseph Sena walks across a prison yard at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Sena spent years trying to make himself a better person after spending nearly half of his 27 years in prison for killing a man. He took courses in poetry and mental health and other topics at a central California prison, hoping to be seen as fit for parole and ready to live outside prison if the day he was free ever came. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Joseph Sena, 27, reads a document in his cell at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Sena spent years trying to make himself a better person after spending nearly half of his 27 years in prison for killing a man. He took courses in poetry and mental health and other topics at a central California prison, hoping to be seen as fit for parole and ready to live outside prison if the day he was free ever came. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Wisconsin Books to Prisoners was formed in the fall of 2006 and has delivered more than 70,000 books to the state's inmates.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, tearing through prisons and killing thousands, it severely disrupted or shut down the programs prisoners most desperately need to prepare them for eventual release.
Two inmates in a Virginia jail used primitively made tools to create a hole in the wall of their cell and escape.
