How the Pandemic Changed My Time in Prison

An Inmate Reflects on Nearly Three Years of Shifting Health Protocols and Halted Rehabilitation Efforts

Intense debates about the role of government interventions in public health became the norm during the pandemic. When do the benefits of prevention and containment policies aimed at stopping COVID’s spread outweigh the costs to individual rights?

I watched these debates from behind prison walls, where the rights of inmates are secondary to safety concerns. Here inside Ironwood State Prison, like every other correctional facility in California, prisoners are afforded a narrow range of “rights,” which are mostly privileges that can be suspended to preserve institutional security.

This principle meant that beginning …

tktk | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

California’s Most Remote Classrooms Are Surviving—How Can They Thrive?

One in Four Attend Rural School. But Sacramento and D.C. Aren’t Giving These Students One-Fourth of Their Time

When it came to the title question of the Zócalo/California Wellness event, “Can Rural Education Survive the 21st Century?,” the panelists were of one mind. Speaking to the live audience …