COVID-19 FAQs
Questions: (updated 4.13.20)
What is the situation at WCCW with regard to COVID-19?
What is the status of FEPPS classes and operations at WCCW?
Can you do online learning?
Will this affect graduation for the class of 2020? Will it affect the start of the bachelor’s degree program in the fall?
What do you know about FEPPS alumni who have released from prison, and how they have been affected by COVID-19?
I’ve been hearing calls for people to be released from jails and prisons. Is that happening here in Washington?
How can I help?
What is the situation at WCCW with regard to COVID-19?
As of now, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID inside WCCW. Volunteer-led programming and visitation have been suspended at all correctional facilities in the state. For more information:
The DOC’s COVID-19 information page includes numbers and locations of staff and incarcerated individuals who have been tested or confirmed to have the virus, as well as overall numbers of people in quarantine and isolation.
The independent Office of the Corrections Ombuds is monitoring the DOC’s COVID-19 response against CDC recommendations, surveying the incarcerated population, hosting weekly stakeholder calls, and sharing information.
What is the status of FEPPS classes and operations at WCCW?
Our last in-person classes at WCCW were the week of March 9, which was roughly mid-way through our spring academic term. Since then, we have been working with our professors to finish out the term with paper-based distance learning. Professors have been flexible, creative, and all-around amazing! The logistics have been challenging and we’re learning as we go, including from our colleagues at other programs all around the country. We have been working with our Tacoma Community College colleagues and the prison administration to set up regular systems for distributing and collecting materials throughout the facility. The DOC and the administration at WCCW have advised that they consider continued educational programming to be essential, and as contracted education staff FEPPS may consider ourselves essential as well. Our office at WCCW is outside the secure part of the facility, and some FEPPS staff are still going to the facility in a very limited way. We are not seeing students in person but can communicate with them using the prison’s internal electronic messaging and paper mail systems.
Can you do online learning?
No, our students do not have access to the internet. You may have heard about a secure internet program at WCCW recently, but that was a very limited pilot project with a specific technical certificate program.
Will this affect graduation for the class of 2020? Will it affect the start of the bachelor’s degree program in the fall?
We are doing everything we can to prepare for a completed spring term and a summer term. But like everyone else, we don’t know what summer will bring. If we cannot offer the necessary in-person classes in summer, we are committed to still offering some form of robust academic engagement and enrichment. Losing summer would delay some students’ ability to graduate. We are moving ahead with the admissions process and course planning for the BA, and with contingency plans should we need to delay the start of that program. We will reschedule our June graduation ceremony for later in the year.
What do you know about FEPPS alumni who have released from prison, and how they have been affected by COVID-19?
We are reaching out to our former students see how they are doing, identifying ways that FEPPS can be of help, and connecting them with other resources. One of the FEPPS graduates and co-founders who is currently in work release was interviewed for this Marshall Project article on releasing from prison during the pandemic.
I’ve been hearing calls for people to be released from jails and prisons. Is that happening here in Washington?
People inside jails and prisons are especially vulnerable to outbreaks of COVID-19, living in close quarters with limited sanitizing options, poor medical care, and poor nutrition. Prison Policy Initiative has a very thorough run-down on the many aspects of this issue and what is happening in different states. In Washington, the legal aid community issued an urgent call to prevent spread of COVID-19 inside state prisons, and sent letters to Governor Inslee and DOC Secretary Sinclair calling for early release of some incarcerated people. Columbia Legal Services has filed a lawsuit laying out arguments for why the state must immediately begin to reduce the prison population. Oral arguments are set for April 23 in the Washington State Supreme Court.
How can I help?
Morale-boosting for students: FEPPS Chief Morale Officer (aka Academic Program Manager Mia Lawrie) is sending in weekly poetry, stories, notes from professors, and more to stay connected and help motivate our students. If you have something inspiring to suggest or pass along, sent it to learn@fepps.org!
Support FEPPS financially: For students at WCCW, engagement with FEPPS doesn’t just provide necessary mental stimulation. School facilitates community as students reach out in their living units to study together, and it’s a line of connection to the outside world when family visits are cancelled and other forms of communication are limited. For those who will be releasing or have recently released from prison, the value of a college education will be even more important in a struggling economy. And beyond that, we believe that higher education in prison is essential to all the traits that we need and admire in difficult times – resiliency, humanity, and tenacity in response to oppression. The unjust systems that we seek to challenge and dismantle in our work also fuel much suffering and inequity in this pandemic. We cannot know what the world will look like post-COVID 19, or how our work might evolve; but we are grateful to our many supporters and partners. We know not everyone is in a position to give financially right now, but for those who can we hope you’ll consider supporting FEPPS to be a constant in the lives of incarcerated students who are working every day to better themselves and their communities. Click here to donate.
Face masks for incarcerated people at WCCW: We’ve been told that WCCW is accepting donation of facemasks and bolts of fabric. FEPPS is not coordinating this effort, but here’s what we’ve been told: This is not a formal mask program. Prisons in Washington already accept clothing donations and other items. You can email to coordinate a donation. To err on the side of safety, please don’t put a nose clip or filter pocket in masks. The prison administration is also looking at options for the quilting program there to sew masks, and they would need cloth donated for this.