The Legal Aid Society is sounding the alarm over the state of New York’s jails and prisons, which is conducting testing for COVID-10 at a rate far too low to truly get a handle on combating the spread of the deadly virus. A report released this week by the New York State Department of Health revealed that only about 3.6 percent of people incarcerated in the state’s prisons have received tests – despite the elevated risk represented by the prison environment that experts have compared to a “petri dish”, reports City Limits.

“Incarcerated people lack the ability to socially distance from each other or facility staff, often lack the freedom or means to clean their cells or maintain their hygiene, and access to and permission to wear face masks in DOCCS facilities has been inconsistent,” says Sophie Gebreselassie, a staff attorney with the Prisoners’ Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society. “People in prison cannot engage in the risk mitigation necessary to protect themselves and each other and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in what is effectively their home.”