Seite - 379 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

379COVID-19 in Canadian Prisons: Policies, Practices and Concerns for those at higher risk. Thus, there are heightened concerns regarding the higher rates of infection in people who will ultimately return to marginalized communities in a more fragile state of health than when they entered prison. Concluding Thoughts For those conducting prison work, the impacts of COVID-19 on prison populations come as no surprise. The overreliance on incarceration, inadequate health care, and the general disregard for prisoner well- being and prisoner rights, have been an overlooked reality for decades. In many ways, the pandemic was a disaster waiting to happen.67 The lack of transparency regarding the measures taken to pro- tect incarcerated people, the failure of some prison systems to have emergency strategies and support for release of those in custody, as well as the insufficient institutional preparedness for the pandemic, are by-products of the pre-COVID-19 shortcomings of the correc- tional systems and of the broader criminal and social justice practices that have perpetuated equity gaps in the society. Canada’s carceral practices are linked to its ongoing failure to respond to the needs of other marginalized groups discussed in this book. As discussed in other chapters, the pandemic has revealed just how big Canada’s social and health inequities are. These inequities have long been feeding the prison systems. In turn, prisons are now cracking under the pressure of the pandemic, and the spill-outs will impact all of society. The current crisis has shown how connected prison and social justice issues are to public health. Returning to “nor- mal” should not be an option; instead, sweeping reforms that ensure Canada’s ability to equitably protect everyone in the case of a public health crisis are needed. Some of the much needed long-term reforms, intrinsically connected to imprisonment and well-being of criminalized people, include a universal basic income, better health care, better child sup- port and other community supports for marginalized people, as well as sentencing reforms (such as the abolition of mandatory minimum sentences) that will effectively reduce the over-reliance on incarcera- tion and increase diversion and community sentences. 67. Adelina Iftene, “We Must Decarcerate Across the Country, then Fix the Prison System”,  Policy  Options (20 April 2020), online: <perma.cc/7KVB-SUAU>.