Covid-19 Death Toll at US Prisons Tops 1,000

Cubans protest at Arizona Detention Center

By Democracy Now

HAVANA TIMES – The New York Times reports the number of known deaths from COVID-19 at U.S. prisons and jails has topped 1,000.

In Arizona, a group of Cuban asylum seekers at the for-profit La Palma Correctional Facility sent a disturbing letter to immigration advocates, accusing guards of covering up a surge of COVID-19 cases and failing to protect prisoners from the spread of the disease.

The prisoners also describe at least nine suicide attempts by asylum seekers who grew desperate after 97% of asylum claims were rejected by an immigration judge.