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The Day the Coronavirus Came to Prison

In an article for Esquire, John describes how Sing Sing prepared — and how it didn’t — and the impact the novel coronavirus is having on the day-to-day life of the prisoners.

In an article for Esquire, John describes how Sing Sing prepared — and how it didn’t — and the impact the novel coronavirus is having on the day-to-day life of the prisoners.


EXCERPT

On the afternoon of March 14, in the conjugal compound at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, in New York, I was chilling out on the couch with my partner, coronavirus talk on the television in the background. The phone rang. It wasn’t count time, so I grew worried.

The voice on the line said to step outside, where the security superintendent was waiting. He told us that our conjugal weekend was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All visitations at prisons statewide were suspended until April 11.

Sing Sing was going into quarantine.

Read the full story at Esquire.