Nebraska’s incarcerated population faces unique risks in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Community advocates are encouraging empathy for those in correctional facilities and take action related to their wellbeing.

The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union held a roundtable discussion last Wednesday about the effects of COVID-19 on incarcerated people and their families, marking the National Day of Empathy event.

The roundtable, which featured speakers from multiple organizations, stressed the particular issues that incarcerated people face in the wake of this pandemic, including limited visitation and volunteer programming as well as overcrowding and prison labor.

Dominique Morgan, the national director of nonprofit prison abolitionist organization Black and Pink, moderated the conversation. Morgan said that people can use the fear and loss that has come from the COVID-19 outbreak to empathize with those who may not be able to control their environments.

“That sense of loss – that sense of feeling powerless –I want you to sit in that and think about what that’s like for incarcerated and system impacted people,” Morgan said.

Another concern is the impracticality, or outright impossibility, of social distancing procedures within correctional institutions. After showing photos of the youth detention centers around the state, Julie Sommers, an advocate at Voices for Children, said it is not possible for young people within these facilities to separate from one another without being in self-confinement. She calls for judges to bring the children home from detention centers during this time.

“A strength of the juvenile justice system is that cases aren’t closed,” Sommers said. “There is absolutely no reason that, in every single case, defense attorneys can’t be calling the court and filing a motion calling for immediate release based on these concerns (about COVID-19).”

Rick Carter, who works at Omaha’s Community Justice Center, said he believes that programming is a prominent concern for incarcerated individuals.

Inmates worry that because they are not able to complete their required programming, they may be unable to obtain parole or be released on schedule.

“All of us are deserving of both empathy and compassion,” Carter said. “We need to be thinking of ways to bring programming into communities.”

Nationally, the ACLU has been attempting to tackle issues of COVID-19 within prisons by calling for Nebraska Departments of Correction to consult with correctional care experts and develop a plan to prevent, manage and treat COVID-19 outbreaks within prisons. The Nebraska Department of Corrections did not give their pandemic plan to Black and Pink or to the general public.

“We are going to keep fighting,” said Danielle Conrad, executive director of the Nebraska ACLU. “Our work might look a little different, but we will do it just as veraciously. Now more than ever, take a moment to reach out and share your opinion.”