People incarcerated in U.S. prisons tested positive for COVID-19 at a rate 5.5 times higher than the general public, according to a new paper co-authored by the UCLA COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project and researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, in collaboration with the Bronx Defenders, Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change and Zealous, has launched a new electronic database of COVID-19-related materials designed to help lawyers, advocates, researchers, journalists and others interested in challenging, remedying, or drawing attention to the grave risk that COVID-19 poses to individuals who are detained.

Professor Joanna Schwartz has been a leading scholar in the field of police accountability for more than a decade. Her work has been cited widely, including by the U.S. Supreme Court.