PHOTO: Sarah-Ji of loveandstrugglephotos.com
BENTON HARBOR, MI — Paris Thomas was a vibrant teenager, but at the age of 14 he started dropping his pencil, comb, and food. He started to struggle in school with his studies. Paris told his parents he knew something was not right. Paris was diagnosed with a rare neurodegenerative form of epilepsy that strikes in early age. Paris was sent to prison for assault and given 18 months. Paris Thomas contracted Covid-19 and died on May 1, 2020 from Covid-19 in the prison system. He was only 20 years old.
Mary Beth Hill was serving 36 months for possession with the intent to distribute drugs at Michigan’s Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility. Mary called asking for my help as Covid-19 is now inside the prison walls. “The first weeks was chaotic,” she said, “We have been on lockdown since April 1. Tension is running high. There is a lot of uncertainty, especially being incarcerated and not knowing if your loved ones are safe from this coronavirus and constantly not knowing from day to day whether or not the virus is going to kill everybody in prison.” Mary Beth Hill died on April 22 in prison from Covid-19. She was only 25 years old.
Efren, in prison, stated in a stunning new development that on April 16, a 23-year-old man from Muskegon, MI, tested positive for Covid-19 at Lakeland Correctional Facility. Two food service supervisors and a wave of dining hall workers contracted Covid-19 and were quarantined for having close contact with them. One supervisor quit his job. More than 790 prisoners have now tested positive and more than 25 prisoners, including the young man from Muskegon, have died in Michigan prisons. Let the truth be told, more and more people in prison will be dying from Covid-19.
We must survive the pandemic—it is real and the damage left in the wake of Covid19 is realized mostly in our prison and communities. In a prison population that is largely black and brown, the bad policies and institutional neglect place black folks and brown folks disproportionately in arm’s reach of this deadly virus. The Coronavirus exposes the deadly impact of poverty and racial disparities all across the country. We must confront this system and take over. None of us are safe until we all are safe.
Editor’s note: Rev. Edward Pinkney was falsely imprisoned in Michigan for 30 months. He has since been exonerated of all charges by the Michigan Supreme Court.
