Madonna Aids In Donating 100,000 Masks To Jails And Prisons

By Shakiel Mahjouri. Published: 22 Apr 2020 4:57 PM Last updated: 22 Apr 2020 5:04 PM

Madonna. Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Madonna is teaming up with REFORM Alliance to protect a criminally underserved population.

Madonna and REFORM Alliance are donating 100,000 surgical masks to jails and prisons in Illinois, Louisiana, California, New York and Massachusetts. These masks will help protect prisoners from COVID-19. Here is a more specific breakdown of where the masks are going.

There were 50,000 masks sent to Cook County Jail and the Illinois Department of Corrections, 20,000 to Louisiana Department of Corrections, and 30,000 combined to Vacaville Prison in California, FCI Ray Brook in New York, and Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department in Massachusetts.

We teamed up with @Madonna @PairOfThieves @bailproject and @cut_50 to secure 100k MORE MASKS FOR PEOPLE BEHIND BARS 🤝 We need to stop #COVID19 from spreading inside of prisons if we want to stop it from spreading outside of prison walls, too #NoPrisonPandemic pic.twitter.com/tsmS0ek9Fu

— REFORM Alliance (@REFORM) April 22, 2020

“More than 2 million lives in prisons across America are currently at stake due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” REFORM co-chair Michael Rubin said in a press release published by Billboard. “It’s absolutely crucial that we protect our inmates and prison staff.”

“Social distancing guidelines are difficult to abide by in these facilities,” Rubin added. “REFORM remains committed to protecting one of our nation’s most vulnerable populations, many of whom are currently incarcerated for technical probation violations (not committing a crime).”

Concerns over the health and wellbeing of prisoners have been felt around the world. In Italy, for example, prison riots occurred with inmates trying to escape for fear of contracting COVID-19.