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And though some states promised to release people early to reduce numbers, in reality the entire reduction has come from admitting fewer people in the first place, says John Pfaff, of Fordham University in New York.
纽约福特汉姆大学的约翰·普法夫表示，尽管一些州承诺提前释放罪犯以减少人数，但实际上，整个罪犯人数的减少主要来自于入狱人数的减少。
Now that the virus is receding, the number of prisoners may rise again, suggests Mr Pfaff, as jury trials resume.
普法夫先生表示，现在病毒正在消退，随着陪审团审判的恢复，囚犯的数量可能会再次上升。
Yet many prison officers chose to quit or retire as covid raged.
然而，随着新冠肺炎疫情的蔓延，许多狱警选择辞职或退休。
And as wages surge elsewhere, fewer are joining to replace them.
随着其他地方工资的飙升，加入接替他们的人越来越少。
Last summer, nearly one-third of positions in federal prisons were vacant.
去年夏天，联邦监狱近三分之一的职位空缺。
In September an anonymous guard at Lee Arrendale State prison, a women’s facility in Georgia, told state representatives that “on a good day” there might be as few as six or seven officers to guard 1,200 inmates.
9月份，佐治亚州女子监狱-李·阿伦代尔州立监狱的一名匿名狱警告诉州代表，“情况好的时候”，可能只有6到7名警察来看守1200名囚犯。
Hannah Riley, of the Southern Centre for Human Rights, an advocacy group, reckons 70% of positions in the state are unfilled.
一个倡导组织南方人权中心的汉娜·莱利估计，该州70%的职位空缺。
(The Georgia Department of Corrections did not reply to a request for comment.)
（佐治亚州惩教部没有回复记者的置评请求。）
Georgia is now under investigation from federal authorities, such is the extent of violence inside.
佐治亚州现在正在接受联邦当局的调查，这就是内部暴力的程度。
What does this all add up to?
所有这一切意味着什么呢？
Even with the recent decline, America imprisons more people than any other criminal-justice system.
即使犯罪率有所下降，美国关押的人也比其他任何刑事司法系统都多。
Black and Hispanic people are especially likely to be locked up.
黑人和西班牙裔人特别容易被关起来。
In 2018 one in 45 black men was in prison (and more still in jails).
2018年，每45名黑人男性中就有一人在监狱里（而且还有更多的人在监禁）。
Poor conditions are not only egregious human-rights violations.
恶劣的环境不仅是严重的侵犯人权行为。
They also make prison less effective.
还降低了监狱的效率。
A Department of Justice study from 2018 found that five out of six people released from state prisons were rearrested within nine years.
司法部2018年的一项研究发现，从州立监狱获释的六人中，就有五人在九年内再次被捕。
The fact that prisoners are warehoused with limited access to education or mental-health treatment, in a place where drug abuse and gangs are rife, is surely part of the reason.
事实上，囚犯被关押在一个毒品滥用和帮派猖獗的地方，他们获得教育或心理健康治疗的机会有限，这肯定是部分原因。
Worsening conditions are likely to lead to more reoffending.
不断恶化的情况可能会导致更多的再次犯罪。
Restrictions on visits mean many prisoners have lost contact with family over the past two years, says Jobi Cates, the founder of Restore Justice, a charity in Illinois which presses for criminal-justice reform.
伊利诺伊州一家致力于推动刑事司法改革的慈善机构“恢复正义”的创始人乔比·凯茨表示，对探视的限制意味着许多囚犯在过去两年里失去了与家人的联系。
Visits are "everything for our people", she says, but prisons have been slow to bring them back.
她说，探访是“我们人民的一切”，但监狱迟迟没有推进。
It is not only family members who have been kept out, but also teachers, therapists and others who help prepare people for release.
被拒之门外的不仅是家人，还有老师、治疗师还有其他帮助人们为释放做准备的人。
Electronic means of keeping in contact got worse, too, because of staff shortages and worries about moving people around.
由于人员短缺和对人员流动的担忧，保持联系的电子手段也变得越来越糟糕。
“They made it to where you can only get one phone call a day,” says NaJei Webster, who was released from a prison in Illinois in September, and who now works for Ms Cates’s charity.
纳吉·韦伯斯特说：“他们到了一天只能接一个电话的地步。”她于9月份从伊利诺伊州的一所监狱获释，现在在凯茨的慈善机构工作。
Prisoners can get access to email through tablet computers, but these cost money—not only for the machine but also per email sent.
囚犯可以通过平板电脑访问电子邮件，但这是需要花钱的，不仅是平板电脑的费用，还有发送每封电子邮件的费用。
Sending money to prisoners to pay for these services comes with exorbitant fees, charged by firms such as Global Tel Link and JPay, which saw its revenues spike in 2020.
向囚犯汇款以支付这些服务需要高昂的费用，由Global Tel Link和JPay等公司收取，这些公司在2020年的收入激增。
The tragedy is that falling prison populations ought to be an opportunity to close some of the worst institutions.
可悲的是人数减少，本来有机会将这些监狱中最糟糕的一些关闭。
And state budgets are unusually replete with cash.
政府资金也充足。
Mr Ossoff says he has found that improving conditions in prisons (unlike releasing people) has bipartisan support.
奥斯索夫先生说，他发现改善监狱条件(与释放人不同)得到了两党的支持。
With several Republicans, he is pushing for more congressional oversight of prisons.
与几名共和党人一道，他正在推动国会加强对监狱的监督。
But prison-guard unions are reluctant to accept changes that make their jobs harder, and, thanks to the staff shortages, they are more powerful than ever.
但让他们的工作变得更难，狱警工会是不愿接受这个变化的，而且由于人员短缺，他们比以往任何时候都更强大。
It seems more likely that things will get worse.
情况似乎有可能变得更糟。
