Today, as part of its efforts to protect people most at risk of contracting COVID-19, the Vera Institute of Justice issued a guidance brief urging Attorney General Barr, governors, sheriffs, and corrections administrators to take immediate action to stem the explosion of COVID-19 cases in jails, prisons, and detention centers. Warned for weeks about the impending crisis, people behind bars are now facing the consequences of slow and inadequate government responses. Thousands of lives are at risk.