The Coronavirus pandemic is impacting every aspect of our society and exposing deep, systemic inequalities that we know will cause Black communities to be harder hit than most. As the news changes minute-to-minute, BET and Color Of Change are teaming up to make sure Black people have the clear and focused information we need to get help, take action and support the hardest hit in our communities.

Prisons and jails are breeding grounds for sickness, especially the Coronavirus. The 2.3 million caged people in our country often have no soap, water, health insurance or control over their interactions with others. We know Black people are disproportionately imprisoned and now experts are warning that their treatment puts us all at risk.

It’s terrifying. Juan Giron, a Color Of Change member who is imprisoned in Rikers Island in New York, reached out to us for help because it’s clearly impossible to socially distance in a dorm where beds are spaced three feet apart.

Juan says that there are at least 200 people who have already tested positive at the prison and inmates are being forced to take extreme measures just to get basic medical care. While jails go into lockdown and ban visitors, hundreds of guards have also tested positive, creating a two-way spread between prisons and the public.

RELATED | Coronavirus Pandemic and Black People: An Action Plan to Protect Our Community

This week, we want to focus on putting pressure on the government to change our unjust mass incarceration system, save incarcerated people’s lives and slow the rate of infection for us all.

Here are five things you can do to be a part of the solution and change.