LISTEN: Anchorage attorney says prison during pandemic shouldn’t be a death sentence

Goose Creek Prison. Photo by Ellen Lockyer, KSKA - Anchorage.
Goose Creek Prison. (Ellen Lockyer/KSKA)

Five inmates at Alaska correctional institutions have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Anchorage attorney Gavin Kentch knew one of those prisoners personally: He represented the man. He was 60 years old, and died three days before Christmas.

Kentch doesn’t want to identify his client because of medical privacy concerns. But he want Alaskans to remember even people who have committed crimes don’t deserve to get sick and die from COVID-19.

LISTEN:

a portrait of a man outside

Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him atcgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Caseyhere

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