COVID-19 is an ongoing global pandemic that may not show sign of infection for many days. How can you stay safe and know if you or others are infected?
The Symptoms
1. Most of those infected in China experienced a dry cough
2. A fever is the strongest indicator of infection besides a proper test, but it could still just be the common flu
3. Possible fatigue, shortness of breath, and/or coughing up thick phlegm
8 more things to know about the virus
1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you likely have a common cold
2. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne. Cover your sneezes and coughs! Then wash your hands
3. Drinking lots of water is effective for all viruses and generally good advice always
4. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for a limited time, but a lot can happen then, you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on
5. It is difficult to tell COVID-19 symptoms apart from common flu symptoms. Both should be taken seriously but COVID-19 is much more serious
6. Anyone who has diabetes, hypertension, preexisting breathing problems, or who is being treated for cancer is at a heightened risk for COVID-19
7. People above 60 in age are also at heightened risk for COVID-19
8. There are tests for COVID-19 but there is not yet a vaccine or cure

DO Wash your hands for more than 20 seconds with soap and warm water. Unlike some really stubborn viruses (like polio), viruses in the coronavirus family typically don’t survive longer than a few hours on most surfaces hard surfaces; though it can be up to days. Bleach or ethanol are more effective at decontaminating surfaces than they are disinfecting human skin. So don’t hoard the hand sanitizer, that should be used only when you do not have any access to a soap and water sink. Vigorous hand-washing with soap really is vital to reduce transmission. If you do nothing else at all, do wash your hands.

DO Stay connected but avoid crowds. It is best to stand at a distance from people. 6 feet or more is safest from infectious droplet spread. The higher your underlying risk factors (age, recent major surgery, cancer, immuno-compromised, asthma, diabetes, etc.), the more you should avoid crowds.

Do NOT shake hands get creative with zero-contact greetings. One awesome side benefit is that contactless greetings don’t even need to be agreed upon in advance. Unlike handshakes, hugs, kisses, etc., there is no need to have an understood protocol. Do what works for you.

Do NOT touch your face That is the most common way the virus enters the body. It is really hard to avoid; this is also why we advise staying home and avoiding crowds. It is also why top-down measures (event cancellation and imposed quarantine etc.) work. The average person, even ones with baseline good hygiene, touch their faces constantly already without thinking about it. Especially with allergy season coming up, please keep this in mind.

Do NOT touch public surfaces with your fingers; get creative. Where possible, use knuckles rather than fingertips (e.g., for elevator buttons, light switches, etc.). Open doors with your hips rather than your hands.

You may use your elbows to open door handles if it’s an option. Use a sleeve to open a doorknob if needed.
A hot-line for incarcerated or detained people to call when they have COVID-19 symptoms has been set up, for when there is an outbreak in their unit, or when they are being denied adequate sanitation and/or medical care for COVID-19. Number to call: 410-449-7140 Our aim is to be an ear and a voice for the unheard. We want to know where and when there is an outbreak so that we can help mobilize support networks and media to lift up the demands of people on the inside.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control, WebMD, flattenthecurve.com

Nelson Mandela Writes to his Wife
. . . the cell is an ideal place to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and regularly the process of your own mind and feelings. In judging our progress as individuals we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one’s social position, influence, and popularity, wealth and standard of education. These are, of course, important in measuring one’s success in material matters and it is perfectly understandable if many people exert themselves mainly to achieve all these. But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one’s development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others—qualities which are within easy reach of every soul—are the foundation of one’s spiritual life. Development in matters of this nature is inconceivable without serious introspection, without knowing yourself, your weaknesses and mistakes. At least, if for nothing else, the cell gives you the opportunity to look daily into your entire conduct, to overcome the bad and develop whatever is good in you. Regular meditation, say about 15 minutes a day before you turn in, can be very fruitful in this regard. You may find it difficult at first …, but the 10th attempt may yield rich rewards. Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.

From a letter to Winnie Mandela, written in Kroonstad Prison, dated 1 February 1975
Now Available Free!
Eckhart Tolle’s transformative books The Power of Now and A New Earth are now available free to people who are incarcerated.
These books are donated by The Eckhart Tolle Foundation.
If you’d like these paperback books, please write to us with your name and full address, including any numbers or location information your facility requires. It could take up to 5 weeks for your books to arrive, so if you’re at a short-term address please wait to request the books at your next address.
Write to: Tolle books offer Human Kindness Foundation, PO Box 61619, Durham NC 27715.

A Generation of Support Through the Bars The 20th edition of the Certain Days Calendar
Deadline: Sunday, June 7th, 2020
2021 theme is “A Generation of Support Through the Bars,” reflecting on the roles of political prisoners in social justice movements, historically, currently, and as we look to the future.We are looking for 12 pieces of art and 12 short essays to feature in the calendar, which hangs in more than 6,000 homes, workplaces, prison cells, and community spaces around the world.We encourage contributors to submit both new and existing work.

*Topics may include, but are not limited to the following:
-The role of longtime political prisoners in ongoing struggles for liberation, whether as inspiration, mentors, and/or as active participants.
-How do we provide meaningful support to prisoners? How has this role changed over time, and what does it mean to support activists who are now at risk for involvement in ongoing movements?
-The relationship between political prisoner solidarity and the broader movement for prison abolition.
-Our understanding of political prisoners/prisoners of war, and how this has evolved over time.
-How can we bring the voices of political prisoners into our everyday lives and organizing efforts?
-Political prisoners are often involved in raising the consciousness of fellow prisoners, as well as prison organizing and legal support. How has this role changed in the face of escalating state repression?

FORMAT GUIDELINES
ARTICLES:
• 500 words max. If you submit a longer piece, we will have to edit for length.
• Poetry is also welcome but needs to be significantly shorter than 500 words to accommodate layout.
• Please include a suggested title.
Due to time and space limitations, submissions may be lightly edited for clarity, with no change to the original intent.
ART:
1. The calendar is 11” tall by 8.5” wide, so art with a ‘portrait’ orientation is preferred. Some pieces may be printed with a border, so it need not fit those dimensions exactly.
2. We are interested in a diversity of media (paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, computer-designed graphics, collage, etc).
3. The calendar is printed in color and we prefer color images.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
You may send as many submissions as you like. Chosen artists and authors will receive a free copy of the calendar and promotional postcards. Because the calendar is a fundraiser, we cannot offer money to contributors.
Prisoner submissions are due Sunday, June 7, 2020 and can be mailed to:
Certain Days
c/o Burning Books
420 Connecticut Street
Buffalo, NY 14213

ABOUT THE CALENDAR
The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal, Hamilton, New York, and Baltimore, with two political
prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons: David Gilbert in New York and Xinachtli (s/n Alvaro Luna Hernandez) in Texas. We were happy to welcome founding members Herman Bell and Robert Seth Hayes (Rest in Power) home from prison in 2018, after serving over forty years each. All of the current members of the outside collective are grounded in day-to-day organizing work other than the calendar, on issues ranging from migrant justice to community media to prisoner solidarity. We work from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, queer- and trans-liberationist position.
Another Writing Opportunity from the PEN Program

I Am An American Number
Noah James
Not having any power,
Over where the State puts my body (at risk)
Is starting to bring me,
To the end of my wits.
On the TV it’s morbid,
The tally they keep,
On the right side of the screen,
The numbers of infected and those now dead,
No longer able to dream, love, or dread.
And deep in our hearts we all feel shame (but agree)
That the really important numbers are of us,
The dead Americans.
For Americans are more valuable,
Because what makes us US,
Is that we agree on a constitution.
A collective document,
Living and so also at risk for sickness,
But at its best it protects individual human freedoms.
Yet when you are an American prisoner in a time of crisis,
You know you don’t matter when it comes to any of this,
And that no document, sick or alive,
Will change the fact that you are on the
State’s expendable list.
For I know I’m not included,
And neither are my friends,
Because while everyone else is sheltering at place at home,
We are still smashed in,
Packed in like cattle to feed us,
And there is little doubt,
That this virus is already passing freely between us.
Spreading like wildfire, As they force us to infect each other,
At 7 a.m. when we line up for work,
To make cents a day,
We are still being pressed together,
Shuffling through their foul metal detectors.
And there is only so much cotton I can bum,
On my own, because my name is a number,
And I don’t know when it will be my turn,
As I don’t have control over my own body,
So I can’t protect it.
I know they don’t care if any of us live or die,
But what makes me mad is that if this virus had me expire tomorrow,
They would love to add one more number,
To their list of those who matter.

Covid-19 Highlights the Harms of Disconnecting Prisoners from Loved Ones
Noah James
I am a prisoner in a state institution watching how Covid-19 is impacting the incarcerated men and boys I live with. I came to prison as a teenager years ago and Covid-19 is reminding me that I have no control over my body and safety as prison officials – who have Godlike power over my body – scramble to figure out what to do with our bodies as they attempt to avoid being held responsible for our deaths during this pandemic. My prison’s response is to do the only thing they know how to do: shut things down, take things away, and sever our already limited ability to connect with those we love. It is a lie that all, or even most, prisoners are simply bad or evil people. Three days ago, a distressed young prisoner came to my cell. As we tried our best to practice social distancing, he told me that both his parents had tested positive for Covid-19. They are both over 60 and, because visiting has been canceled and we have limited ability to connect with the outside, he may never see or talk with them again. Even if he is able to call them, each phone call costs $5. Phones calls are a luxury many cannot afford as we make pennies an hour for our prison labor. His parents may die, and he may not know for weeks or months because no one could tell him. Many men I live and work with are parents. On the outside, single mothers or grandparents are now forced to take care of their kids all day as there is no school. These men feel profound shame that they cannot provide for their families during this time and this shame strains many men’s desire to maintain their sobriety. Unfortunately, our access to drugs is prevalent inside while our access to those we care about is not. Nearly everyone in my prison is worried about their family members’ health and economic survival. American prisoners are not alone with this fear as this virus impacts everyone. The main emotion inside my prison right now is fear. Not fear for those of us under the age of 50, but fear for those we love in the outside world as this virus spreads. And inevitably, as fear and pain turns to anger, more violence boils to the surface in a place such as this. I watched two men get into a fight over an envelope with a stamp on it yesterday. For many people who have never been in a prison the idea of getting into a fist fight over something that is worth less than a dollar is absurd. But I know that that envelope represented something much more important than money or pride. That envelope represented connection, love, and meaning. It represented family. For every act of violence that is committed in this world thousands of acts of kindness occur unnoticed. A distinguished emeritus professor of child psychology at Harvard, Jerome Kagan, said, “to be benevolent rather than malevolent is probably a true feature of our species.”1 This is true, even in prison I see more acts of goodness than of cruelty. We are designed to be good to each other, to care for each other, and to primarily do these things with those we love and are close to.My fellow prisoners and I understand that locking us down, isolating us on our units, and severing our already meager access to our families are sacrifices that we have to make in order to save lives. Many prisoners understand that this is a time for all Americans to give up things in the short run to help. Yet, as I watch my fellow prisoners on lockdown fear for their families’ health and safety (and as I do the same) I am reminded how many people are incarcerated unnecessarily. So many of us don’t belong here, or at least don’t belong here anymore. I know dozens of men who committed crimes as teenagers and in their twenties who were given mandatory minimum sentences so long that they have been, or will be, trapped here for decades, long after they have outgrown their dangerousness, as national statistics about age and crime support.2 Most criminal acts are committed by young men and most youth who commit even the most serious crimes tend to become law abiding citizens by the time they reach their 30s and 40s. Most people who re-offend do so because of untreated substance abuse and trauma issues. And while there are some prisoners that are currently in here for good reason, they are also effectively being made more criminal and dangerous as they are warehoused in a place that provides them no substance use treatment or other treatment while also purposely disconnecting them from those they love. I live with these men and I’d rather have them have access to their families than not as this would increase my personal safety inside. Giving them greater access to their families would also decrease the likelihood that these men will commit new crimes once released. My family is out there and many in the public do not realize how many prisoners care about public safety too. We should do what works. Just like with our battle against Covid-19, when it comes to criminal justice, we should follow the science. And the science suggests that we have been locking up people for far too long and the conditions of confinement are much too harsh. Our nation’s extremely high recidivism rate, compared to other countries, reflects the consequences of these failings. According to the US Department of Justice, 67.8% of American prisoners return to prison within three years of release and 76.6% return within five years.3 This means that the United States spends $80 billion annually 4 on corrections for a 76.6% failure rate. We can do better. Unlike prisons in many other industrialized nations (e.g. Germany, Norway, Israel, France, etc.) my prison is intentionally designed to separate us from those we love in order to hurt us, to make us suffer by using the most basic element of our humanity against us. My prison weaponizes my desire to be cared about and to care for others. Numerous studies overwhelmingly suggest severe forms of social disconnection make prisoners more criminal and dysfunctional and that the more a prison system disconnects prisoners from their families the more likely they are to commit future offenses. Sentences are too long and costly while access to family connections is too sparse. We have been doing things the wrong way for far too long. The fundamental punishment of my prison is social disconnection. My hope is that after we have defeated Covid-19 we can use science to confront our expensive, archaic, and often erroneous notions about prisoners that have led to a system with a 76.6% failure rate. This includes examining how we treat prisoners who were sentenced to long mandatory minimums for violent crimes they committed in their youth. Many of us no longer present a public safety risk but remain needlessly trapped within a system that uses our desire to be close to those we love as a state weapon of vengeance. This is exceptionally painful during this time of national crisis when so many of our families desperately need us to be there to support them.

1The Body Keeps the Score, Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. By Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. Penguin Books. 2014. p. 812At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly. ACLU, June 20123Durose, M. Cooper, A. & Snyder, H., “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010,” (April 2014). U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.4U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). “Smart on Crime: Reforming the Criminal Justice System for the 21stCentury,” (August 2013), http://www. justice. gov/ag/smart -on-crime. pdf p.2