This map overlays the numbers of COVID-19 cases in California state prisons and the number of COVID-19 hospital admissions in California counties as of Fall 2020 (Los Angeles Times 2020). There is no clear statewide correlation; however, there are many counties wherein the number of cases inside prison buildings greatly outnumber the number of countywide hospital admissions. For example, San Quentin State Prison had over 77 times as many cases as countywide hospital admissions.
Besides the mismanagement and transfers within the state prison system, trends in statewide funding priorities may be a significant factor (Christenson and Winton 2020). Since the 1970s, the state budget allocation for corrections has nearly quintupled (Tafoya and Bohn 2016). As the state has prioritized corrections budgetarily, it has funneled inmates into increasingly overcrowded prisons (Sacramento Bee and ProPublica 2019), which has further been an exacerbating factor for outbreaks inside California prisons (Equal Justice Initiative 2020).
