John Eason, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the UW-Madison Justice Lab, has presented early results from a research project that suggest that efforts to reduce the jail population in the months of January, February and March resulted in decreasing the number of COVID-19 cases in the Dane County Jail. Eason has partnered with the county’s Criminal Justice Council to examine the effect of jail population and COVID-19. They also plan to examine racial disparities in this project since Black people are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system and COVID-19. More details are in an article published in the Capital Times on August 1.
