In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, jails and prisons worldwide are particularly vulnerable to the contagion’s spread.

As Toni Preckwinkle, the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, told The New York Times, they are literal “petri dishes” of mass infection.

Coronavirus hit the Cook County Jail particularly hard and fast.

For most of March, there were no cases.

Then, on Monday, March 23rd, two inmates tested positive.

Within 10 days, 134 more had it.

As of Sunday, April 12th, 306 inmates and more than 180 correctional officers, had coronavirus.

An off-site, 500-bed quarantine facility has since been established for Cook County Jail’s infected inmates, with separate areas for those who have the virus and for those who show symptoms but haven’t tested positive. Back at the jail, double cells have been converted to single cells when possible in an effort to increase space between those who have not yet caught it.

The most serious coronavirus patients are taken to the hospital, where currently 20 inmates are being treated. So far, coronavirus has killed three of them.

A handful of experts, including the Cook County Public Defender, knew this was coming.

By the middle of last month, before the Jail had even one coronavirus case, public defender Amy Campanelli had already filed an emergency motion with the state attorney’s office to secure early releases for inmates. Only those deemed low-risk were considered, which included the elderly, pregnant women, inmates with health problems, and those serving nonviolent offenses.

In all, Campanelli believed that as many as 2,000 inmates at the Cook County Jail fit this description. But on Friday, March 20th, after a week of hearings, only 100 were granted leave.

A 68-year-old inmate named Marilyn Hartman was one of those lucky ones.