#and i think there is MASSIVE potential for the violent against neighbors considering the. whole narrative

[cherubchoirs]

did you listen to the 7-1 song wips or are you holding out untill the level is out? would love to hear your opinion because the vibe it is giving to Violence is so much different than what I imagined it could be but I’m all here for it. also marble made looking demon on the thumbnail hmmm ..

GENUINELY love the tone these songs are setting - when i made my 7-1 comic, i envisioned violence as a desolate place, deep and abyssal and eerily still/silent to contrast with the sinners it houses. i think obviously the canon interpretation will be in a much different palette as i thought of it as a consuming darkness, but "the world looks white" suggests the opposite of this, with a stark, endless void instead. to me, these songs evoke the devastation of the war (everything burned down to white ash), the devastation of what has happened to the world, because it died consumed in violence. it may only be dante's seventh circle, but violence is the defining sin of this game's universe and it is the defining trait of the player character. this is a lament of this world, this is the layer that comes directly after the fall of heaven's brightest angel and it is the layer that v1 understands implicitly. if it had a soul, this is the layer it would suffer, yet goes beyond that. i think the violence layer is here to show it, show the player, what it (we) have done, what it is. and how it will not stop. "the world looks red", v1 continues to tear through a world already blighted, now not even safe from it in hell, paying with blood all over again even though there is nothing left alive in those ashes. the machines sterilized the world and now they bathe hell in blood all over again. because round 1 is the violent against neighbors, and v1 embodies that concept, it IS this layer, not just a sinner of it. in the inferno, the sinners here standing in boiling rivers of the blood they spilled....that is what v1 is, all of their legacies and so much worse. i don't anticipate any introspection from it, but i think it will ask the player to do so.

bonus alternative theories that i've tossed around as well: maybe the sadness here is because this is where we will get our first hints to whoever p-3 is and what they must have suffered. we saw the emptiness of lust and greed, different in how they came to die than the other layers. will violence be the same? a wasteland? has something else gone horribly wrong in hell now that gabriel is no longer judge and guardian and heaven's power has collapsed? has the living, breathing thing that hell is spun massively out of control and this is v1's first look at what it does without a master? will it now truly come to understand what hell wants from it and what hell can do? i'm SO excited by these tracks tbh, it's everything i could have wanted to hear!!

[andrewuttaro]

30 Years on: What is America?

I am not of the belief patriotism is a disappearing attribute in this country. I think those who say such a thing tend to struggle with the difference between patriotism and nationalism. I digress, I already wrote that article. I’ll let you do your own research on that. To the degree patriotism is in flux at the moment regardless of anyone’s relative love for America I think it’s because we are at something of a national crossroads.

We’re collectively looking critically at our own history again for the first time in a long time. In the aftermath of a global pandemic the craving for normalcy belies an unsettling question about what that normalcy actually is and if its worth going back to: What is America? No really, what is the lived vision of America in 2021 CE? To the extent you read overzealous nuts on social media drooling over the prospect of Civil War or national partition there is in fact some hard soul searching about the what of America that has potential to lead to real political sectarianism.

I’ll check my privilege at the door and say yes: I, as a straight, white male, has never had a lot to lose in any past incarnation of the American identity. Part of the struggle here is a truly inclusive answer to Who is America? I write this under the assumption literally anyone can be American, and we should build systems that reflect that. Nonetheless, we do have to look to the past for fear of repeating it.

What is America? Well it’s a country for one: more than two hundred years old with a congressional democratic republic form of government. It’s had 46 Presidents and counting. It is composed of 50 States for now. America was founded on a couple core principles it defined around “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Anyone who seriously studies American History will tell you the promises of America’s founding documents were not all fulfilled in the beginning. America’s domestic history is defined by Civil Rights movements, reactions against said movements and a Civil War largely about who would receive the full promise of what America is. Indeed Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President who led America through that Civil conflict, spoke of this nation as the “American Experiment” that would not perish from the earth as long as the Union won. The Gettysburg Address Lincoln delivered about this vision of America was delivered on a battlefield where that nation was invaded by what can properly be called a different imagining of what the U.S. should be. Those invaders were former countryman, looking to make a different formulation of the experiment. America is an experiment, a work in progress, a project.

Nation-States as projects is not a new concept. Even before the United States of America’s War of Independence new nation-states were being founded across the world out of the milieu of Enlightenment Philosophy meeting political realities. In many places the nation-state was a more democratic, self-determining incarnation of what kingdoms and empires had been for millennia prior: the collective force of a like-minded ethnic, tribal, or familial group or otherwise aligned interested parties. The innovation of the American experiment, among other things, was perhaps that it was a nation-state for everyone seeking liberty and personal autonomy. Even though the founders envisioned the enfranchisement of a very specific kind of citizen, this American nation-state had potential from the beginning to be something that had never been attempted before.

Fast forward 128 years on from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The U.S. has not only survived its Civil War, but it has also exploded onto the global stage after two world wars catapulted it to an international superpower. Still believing itself to be the project of liberty and self-determination America had stood opposed to a distinctly oppressive superpower in the Soviet Union and won. In the process the American experiment had been exported anywhere the Soviets couldn’t stop it and now the whole world was familiar with its tenets if not copying its institutions. A Cold War that held all of humanity in suspense at the precipice of nuclear annihilation has yielded to a new reality where America found itself the dominant political force in the world unopposed. 1991, thirty years ago now, was a rare inflection point in history where suddenly massive forces of power were upended at once and there was no clear guiding philosophy for the global political order going forward… except the United States of America. What would America be now? The Post-Cold War reality was ours to lose.

Canada, America’s most intimate international partner and closest neighbor, similarly finds itself at a philosophical turning point. The Canadian author and commentator Will Ferguson points to three core guiding themes, however misled they were, for the Canadian project upon its modern founding in 1867: 1. Keep the Americans out, 2. Keep the French in, 3. Somehow make the indigenous disappear. In Canada’s 150-year history these three ideas color its every decision and define its character. All of these founding directives are now either reversed because they were outright morally wrong (See number 3) or have been killed by a thousand cuts. The nation-state to America’s north is also set to reexamine what it’s all about. In that reexamination of national identity there is great opportunity and great danger. As if an international support group, Canada’s stereotypical niceness reaches out to tell us, we’re not alone in this self-discovery process.

The answer to the Post-Cold War world for the American Experiment in 1991 was doubling down on Americana and exporting our cultural and economic mores around the world. Though this process had already begun in earnest after World War Two, now the whole world was its oyster. From aggressive, no-prisoners capitalism to unapologetic, imperial democracy, you can now find few places on the planet that are not familiar with some facet of the United States’ self-perception. America globalized who it was and not everyone liked it. Indeed many Americans began to increasingly look in the mirror this cultural hegemony provided with a critical eye. Then September 11th happened.

After the terrorist attacks on 9/11 the United States cast its enemies in an axis of evil dualism in the War on Terror that provided an endless horizon of conflict for a military apparatus unseen in human history. The polar opposite, the truly evil enemy the Fall of the Soviet Union deprived America of, would now be replaced with a complex networks of dictators and non-state entities who recorded death threats in caves. While America doesn’t exist today like a traditional empire, its reach is unparalleled, and it can strike almost anywhere on earth in a matter of minutes. With no sufficient counterbalance it would seem its military industrial complex doesn’t know what to do with itself. That menacing, widespread inhuman enemy doesn’t actually exist much in the real world if it even did during the many proxy conflicts of the Cold War decades.

Domestically the thirty years of the Post-Cold War American Experiment has seen the two branches of our government that were supposed to be lesser to the legislative, balloon in importance. In a nation where every philosophical difference is magnified into a culture war the ultimate arbiter of those borderline violent disputes is a Court system that is supposed to be an afterthought and a Presidency that has become outright imperial in spite of the founders explicit anti-monarchical sentiments. When Supreme Court justices die or retire it really seems to be on par with a Pope’s death for political partisans stateside. All good and evil in the land of liberty seems to run through a council of black-robed appointees. All 5 Presidents of Post-Cold War America were cast as lightning rods for their bases and chastised by their opposition with every scandal that would stick (to varying degrees of success). The fourth of such Presidents, Donald Trump, openly rejected the idea of America as a pluralistic nation-state with any international responsibility at all to the contrary of the image that defines Post-Cold War America, in favor of a Pre-World War II image of an isolationist, explicitly white Christian nation. Yes, the current identity crisis played out in sharp contrast in the 2016 election cycle. Many Americans consider that election the perfect storm of two intractably terrible major party choices.

Perhaps we need to face the fact we did it to ourselves. We elect no-compromise fighters whenever we vote only to be shocked when Congress turns into a toxic mess that gets nothing done. It’s always easy to criticize a one-term President but the re-evaluation of what the American experiment will be is not limited to those of a more right-wing conservative bent. The left wing in this country increasingly discusses myriad reforms to everything from our election and representation systems to our healthcare and welfare systems. No matter what your future vision of America is you probably agree, perhaps for vastly different reasons than your neighbor, that America is not the somehow uniquely exceptional nation-state it’s insisted it is, not anymore at least. The Post-Cold War era saw the concept of “American Exceptionalism” become a punchline for Americans of both and every political affiliation. For numerous reasons America’s international and domestic vitality has diminished.

The current President, historically more of a traditionally moderate, establishment democrat, has even engaged in this revisionism aggressively seeking to revive Americans faith in their very form of government with stimulus, infrastructure and voting reform in the most evenly split congress in decades. More progressive types of the left-wing beckon in every election cycle now just as the former President refuses to go away, trying to weaponize the grievance of his increasingly right-wing base in the reimagining of the American experiment he set forth as a more authoritarian leader. We have to make an honest, good faith accounting of this effort toward a new definition of ourselves if any shared consensus as a nation will ever be possible again. There is of course great danger in redefining the purpose of a national project.

However America redefines herself going forward, finding these new definitions is not an optional project. With the U.S. shaken down from its international pedestal by trade war, an ascendant China, and a stubbornly plutocratic Russia, even America’s closest allies are reconsidering how they will persist with an unstable American self-image still able to exert its hard power anywhere on earth. As some Americans pursue a more equitable society at home for historical outgroups still struggling with society’s aged mores, those efforts have been met with open racism and a kind of selfish nationalism that has not been seen this ferociously in three generations. Unless a new lasting, inclusive, American self-image is agreed upon we may be at only the beginning of a long period of internal strife and discord. Increasing numbers of ideologs of both left wing and right-wing persuasions fantasize about cutting off whole sections of the nation whom they rarely agree with. American Statehouses are dominated by right-wing majorities more often than not who have actually initiated voter suppression efforts which positions America in a dangerous place for the next close enough national election. This is not to mention the way gerrymandering steals the power of congressional representation from the very people it was supposed to empower. This whole discussion doesn’t even touch on the increasing threat of environmental catastrophe rarely addressed in the halls of power.

The current American Identity Crisis leaves many issues unaddressed as a matter of fact. An opioid epidemic that is erasing broad swaths of the population, a wealth gap unseen since the gilded age, a skyrocketing suicide rate, a gun violence epidemic, natural resource exhaustion unrelated to climate change, police violence, the fourth rebirth of white supremacist organizations, DC and Puerto Rico Statehood, the Student Debt Crisis, an increasingly intractable housing market putting home ownership out of reach for many young Americans, and numerous other problems sit on the backburner without any signs of meaningful progress. On some level it seems we’ve all given up the project of governing for earning the most points in culture wars that now express themselves on as big a scale as a national election and all the way down to dinner tables and date nights.

What is American? How might we be optimistic about such a rapidly changing country on this Independence Day thirty years on from the end of the Cold War? Among people my age it would seem pessimism if not an outright nihilism about these sorts of things is the common response where activism seems to only make minor gains. Among the general population still rebounding from the COVID19 pandemic it would seem a certain empathy fatigue has set in. Where meaningful answers to these big, generational national identity questions are being formulated it is yet to be seen if a new American consensus can be found.

Perhaps our friend Canada would tell us: these days the most patriotic thing you can do is push for your country to do better. Reckoning with the past and present treatment of minorities and atrocities abroad is not optional if we are to have an honest, effective, united future. For now, if nothing else can move us to truly feel proud of our nation, then maybe this independence day we can recognize our internal interdependence on each other, however different we maybe. If anything the most patriotic way we can be this holiday and every day going forward as Americans is honest and patient about who we were, what we are and what we could possibly be if we commit ourselves to progress once again.

[spiteweaver]

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“All right, Dreamy,” Banrai said, “how did Phantasos do it?”

Dreamweaver plucked a small shard of pink celestine from the air. Ever since Phantasos’ departure for Aphaster lands, it had taken to floating. Parts of it came together and attempted to rebuild, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Whatever spell Phantasos had cast, it was potent and lingering and reacting to the celestine in unpredictable ways.

The whole of Observatory Hill had been cordoned off. Only Arcane dragons and those with Dreamweaver’s explicit permission were allowed at ground zero. Truthfully, as Abaddon had implied, even they should not have been there. The air was heavy with Arcane magic, but thus far, the protective web they had spun around themself and their mate had held out.

Holloway was overseeing the clean-up effort. With his expertise in crystal magics, he had managed to clear away much of the dust--which, he had confided, was the most dangerous part, as smaller particles were harder to detect and, thus, more likely to be missed and left to regrow. The larger shards remained where they were, hovering several feet off the ground.

Crucis had yet to stir within his chrysalis.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Dreamweaver confessed, and released the crystal back into the air. It bobbed before them for a moment, then meandered lazily toward its siblings. “Our inherent magic is that of dreams,” they went on. “The light-based magic I possess was gifted to me by Her Grace. Unfortunately, that means I don’t know very much about it. I can wield it, bend it to my will, but the fullness of its nature remains elusive.”

“You never told me that.”

Dreamweaver smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You never asked, my love,” they replied. “I’ve been able to keep many of my secrets simply because you are so wonderfully uninquisitive.”

Banrai wanted to press the topic, but seeing Dreamweaver smile made him weak. He returned their kiss with a soft peppering of them across their face. “I’m so glad you’re all right,” he said. “I was terrified you would be inconsolable after all this.”

“You are safe,” Dreamweaver said, “and our son is safe. I have no more need for sorrow.”

They walked the site’s perimeter hand-in-hand, surveying the damage done to the surrounding area. A few growths of pink celestine remained here and there, stubbornly refusing to bow to Phantasos’ will. There were holes in the observatory, caused by the sudden, violent growth of the colony, and the inside of it was still humming with Arcane magic so thick that Dreamweaver dared not venture near.

“My guess,” they began, “is that he experienced a controlled loss of control--a bit like what we believe happened to Xerxes. His emotions took him, and he unleashed a massive amount of energy in a very small space. Of course, Xerxes’ was more than likely a defense mechanism, a calling of the elements to him, while Phantasos’ was an expulsion of magic, but it’s the same general concept.”

“So if he hadn’t been able to concentrate it--”

“Everyone would be dead, yes--excluding, perhaps, myself.”

Banrai gulped. “We’re grounding him for that, right?”

“Oh, most definitely!” Dreamweaver replied. “Still, it was an impressive feat. Even I’ve never managed something like that--truthfully, until today, I didn’t know it was possible.”

“How did he withstand the Seat’s power?” Banrai asked.

“Technically,” Dreamweaver said, “I’m not elementally-aligned. The only reason I’m weak to Arcane magicks and proficient in Light magicks is because I chose to serve the Lightweaver, and tuned myself to Her element by choice. Phantasos hasn’t chosen to serve Her yet, though--and he’s only half a ‘proper’ Acolight, on your side. His weaknesses will, therefore, be greatly diminished.”

“Magic is confusing,” Banrai grumbled.

“Magic is a mystery we have yet to unravel,” Dreamweaver replied. “Even the most learned of us have much yet to discover.”

“Dreamweaver!”

Holloway waved to them from the far side of the hill, where Crucis lay dormant within the remnants of his colony. Banrai and Dreamweaver exchanged nervous glances. “What’s wrong?” Banrai called. “Is it the Seat? Have you found it?”

“No,” Holloway said, “it’s Crucis!”

Crucis’ eyes were wide and rolling in their sockets. They could see his mouth moving, but the pink celestine encasing him was too thick for any sound to escape. Holloway pushed more insistently against it. Small cracks appeared along its surface, but none large enough for him to get a foothold.

“Why is he panicking?” Banrai asked. “Is he all right?”

“He’s fine,” Holloway said, “for now, but I think he knows his shield is weakening. Once it’s gone, the celestine will consume him, and he’ll die. If I can’t get him out now--”

“Do what you must,” Dreamweaver said. “No matter how dark the magic, I will turn a blind eye. Get him out of there, Holloway.”

“I don’t need to go that far,” Holloway assured, “but I need a push.” He looked up to meet Dreamweaver’s gaze. “I need your energy.”

“My...energy...?”

“Demons can siphon energy from other beings,” Holloway explained. “Among dragons, and even among your kind, I suppose that’s not a common ability--but among demons, it’s innate. We can all do it to one degree or another. If you let me siphon some of your magical energy, I can break him out.”

“I’ve heard of such things,” Dreamweaver said, “but the only demons I’ve dealt extensively with are dream demons. I don’t know, Holloway. Our energies are very different, and if it’s anything like mixing magics, it could have catastrophic results.”

“I’ve done it before--not from you, obviously, but from ‘opposite-aligned’ beings.”

“My magical potential is so much greater than yours--no offense.”

“None taken, love, it’s the truth.”

“Are you sure it won’t overwhelm you?”

Banrai’s head was spinning by now, his mind well and truly lost among a sea of words he knew the meanings of, but that, when paired together, made no real sense. “Please,” he said, “I don’t speak magic.”

“Think of it like borrowing a cup of sugar from your neighbor,” Holloway said. “I need more sugar to make my cake, but I don’t have any in my kitchen. I go to Dreamweaver and ask to borrow some from their kitchen. They give me their sugar, I return to my own kitchen, and I finish my cake.”

“So energy is the sugar,” Banrai said, “your kitchens are your bodies, and the spell to free Crucis is the cake?”

“Right.”

“What happens if it ‘overwhelms’ you?” Banrai asked.

“Similes aside,” Holloway said, “I’ll die.”

“Let’s just wait for Lutia,” Dreamweaver suggested hurriedly. They were wringing their hands in that way they always did when they knew they were about to give in to something reckless.

“When will she be coming?” Holloway asked.

“Well,” Dreamweaver said, and their voice grew progressively quieter as they went on, “considering she can’t tell up from down at the moment, my guess would be, ah, several days.”

“Yeah, we don’t have that kind of time,” Holloway replied.

“If it overwhelms you, you’ll die and then he’ll die, too,” Dreamweaver pressed. “I hate to say this, but isn’t losing only one better than losing two?”

“Yes,” Holloway agreed, “but we might not have to lose any. Dreamweaver, I have done this dozens of times in my life. I know how to control it.”

“But what if--”

“Oh, in the Dark Name of Astaroth, give me your hand!”

Dreamweaver tried to reel back, but Holloway was too fast for them. He lunged, grasping their wrist, and another brilliant golden flash lit the hilltop up like the Beacon. Holloway grit his teeth, his arm spasming with the sudden influx of foreign magic into his body. Dreamweaver’s eyes had gone yellow again.

Finally, Holloway fell forward limply, gasping against the grass, and Dreamweaver returned to their senses. “You idiot,” they hissed. “You could have died, you absolute fool!”

“I’m fine,” Holloway panted. “My, that was a bit of a rush. A demon could get addicted to it.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Stand back. I’m busting him out.”

Banrai did not bother trying to pull Dreamweaver back. Instead, he wrapped his arms around their waist, lifted them straight off their feet, and took off down the hill with them. Their protests fell on deaf ears. All he knew was that Holloway was about to perform a volatile bit of magic, and he didn’t want his mate anywhere near it when it went off.

He’d already almost lost too much today.

A resounding crack split the air, and, suddenly, Dreamweaver was very glad their husband had carted them off when he did. Arcane magic exploded from the hilltop, so raw and powerful that it turned the sky above it pink. They buried their face in Banrai’s chest and pushed more of their own magic into the web of shields around them both.

“The Seat!” Crucis cried, scrabbling from his cocoon. In his arms was the piece of the Seat, clutched tightly, protectively, to his breast. “Run! Run, go, get out of here! Forget me, I’m already dead, go!”

“Crucis,” Holloway said, “Crucis, it’s all right. You’re all right.”

“No, no, the--the colony! Pink celestine! It’s reacting to the Seat!”

“You’re disoriented,” Holloway persisted. “You were under for quite a while. Take a deep breath. Have a look around.”

Crucis did as he was told--reluctantly, because every fiber of his being was screaming at him to do whatever he could to save Holloway from a fate worse than death. His eyes fell first on the piece of the Seat cradled in his grasp, then on his ruined observatory, then on the floating celestine shards all around him.

At last, it fell on Holloway’s face. “It was an accident,” he said, and collapsed.

“I’m telling you, I don’t know how it got into my workshop.”

Crucis hissed as Hollyhock applied another treatment of healing salve to a cut on his cheek. He was battered and bruised, but free of pink celestine--Holloway had confirmed as much before allowing him out of quarantine. Now he sat, piping hot cup of tea in hand, staring glumly at the piece of the Seat that rested between himself and Dreamweaver.

“Hold still,” Hollyhock commanded when he raised his cup to his lips. “I’m almost done. Oh, poor thing--you’ve had a difficult time of it lately.”

“I see why Solaire married you,” Crucis said. “I don’t like people, but I think I could grow accustomed to having you around, Hollyhock.”

“High praise coming from you,” Hollyhock replied.

“Are you sure, Crucis?” Dreamweaver asked again. “Are you positive?”

“Dreamweaver, you can tell when people are lying to you,” Crucis reminded. “If I were lying, you would know.”

“But if you forgot something, some small detail, I’d be none the wiser,” Dreamweaver said. “I’m not accusing you, Crucis, it is clear to me that you had nothing to do with this--but if there’s anyone you can think of, anyone at all, who might have access to the Seat, who would want to harm you or the village, you must tell me.”

“Of course,” Crucis said, “I would if I knew, but I don’t. I’m sure I’ve garnered a fair number of enemies, but none with access to the Seat. No one should have been able to access it--not for long enough to take a chunk out of it, let alone one of this size and power.”

“It would have to have been an Arcanite,” Banrai reasoned, “but none in Feldspar could have done it.”

“No,” Dreamweaver said, and it was as if a haze had come over them. “No, there is one who may have been able to manage it, but I--I cannot imagine what motivation he could possibly have. He’s a conniving, scheming coward, so I doubt he’d go to such great lengths without equal reward.”

“Who?” Crucis asked.

“Atsushi.”

A rare (less so in recent weeks) flicker of emotion crossed Crucis’ face. For the first time since Dreamweaver had known him, he was visibly perplexed. “Atsushi’s like that, is he?” he said. “He always seemed well-adjusted enough to me.”

“He’s no worse than Ambrosius or Armand,” Dreamweaver replied, “just your run-of-the-mill undesirable, the kind who only cares for himself. I would suspect him, but, as I said, I cannot fathom what he stood to gain.”

“He’s not the power-hungry sort?” Crucis asked.

“Mmm, no,” Dreamweaver said, “not that I’ve gathered.”

“No grudge against any of us?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Don’t suppose he would do it for the sake of Arcanite curiosity.”

“Gods, no.” Dreamweaver gave a short, mocking laugh. “As I said, he’s a terrible coward.”

“Should we really talk about one of our own like that?” Banrai said.

“Sorry...” Dreamweaver touched their mate’s hand. “I suppose I am being a bit cruel, aren’t I? He hasn’t caused any trouble since coming here, so perhaps I should be softer on him.”

“Still,” Hollyhock said, “it’s odd, isn’t it? He’s been going off on his own a lot lately, and he wasn’t at the hill with Junior. I didn’t smell him there, anyway.”

“He...” Dreamweaver’s brows furrowed. “He wasn’t there?”

“No,” Banrai said, “come to think of it, he wasn’t.”

“Then where is he?” Dreamweaver asked.

“I thought you said he wasn’t a suspect,” Crucis said.

“I still don’t like that the only person in our clan capable of approaching the Seat in any capacity isn’t here when a piece of it has turned up out of place,” Dreamweaver replied crossly. “Banrai, ask Vladimir to fetch him. It will put my mind at ease.”

[douglasacogan]

When and how will federal authorities start systematically modifying federal sentencing and prison realities in response to COVID-19 outbreak?

I have previously already blogged here (March 3) and here (March 12) and here (March 13) on the potential impact of the coronavirus on prisons and jails, but it seems the world changes a few dozen times each day when it comes to this global pandemic.  And now it is obvious that sentencings and prisons are already being impacted dramatically, with this Crime Report piece providing just some of the details.  The piece is headlined "Corrections Authorities Eye Inmate Release, Halts in Visits, to Prevent Virus Spread," and here are excerpts:

Authorities have begun focusing on America’s overcrowded prisons and jails — environments where “social distancing” can be problematic — as critical danger points for the spread of Covid-19.  Actual infections and fear of the coronavirus have begun to grind the scales of justice to a halt in pockets of the U.S. under states of emergency as judges and lawyers struggle to balance the constitutional rights of defendants against the concerns that the public institutions could unwittingly become contamination sites, CNN reports.

“The whole system is coming to a halt,” said New York City criminal defense lawyer Gerald Lefcourt. “I’m sure everybody is wait-and-see at the moment,” he added, saying he wouldn’t be surprised if prosecutors and defense lawyers seek to resolve cases outside of a trial, either through plea bargains or dropped cases....

In Ohio, dozens of inmates were released from jail sooner than expected to help reduce the population inside the Cuyahoga County jail, as a way to minimize potential virus outbreaks inside jails. The Ohio county judges held a rare court session to hear cases involving low-level, non-violent offenders on Saturday, according to Channel 11 News. Some 38 inmates were released from the Cuyahoga County jail after they appeared in court.

In Michigan’s Kent County, bond and sentence modifications are being discussed to allow some inmates to be released. “We are taking precautions, like everyone else, and making arrangements to deal with what is presented to us,” Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young told ABC 13.

And in Minnesota, the state’s public defender recommened that nonviolent offenders should be released from jail because of the threat of coronavirus. “I am no doctor, but I think it’s better for them to be on quarantine at home,” said Bill Ward told the Pioneer Press on Sunday. “The request is to treat them humanely.” Two jails in southern Minnesota have each had one inmate with a confirmed case of the disease, Ward said. Diseases from the common cold to the flu spread more quickly in prisons — so coronavirus poses a greater risk for inmates.

Efforts to limit the spread of disease in the nation’s corrections systems also included suspending or curtailing visits to prisoners.

This new New York Times commentary effectively details why many working in the criminal justice arena have been thinking about this issue for some time already.  The extended piece should be read in full, and its full headline highlights the themes: "An Epicenter of the Pandemic Will Be Jails and Prisons, if Inaction Continues: The conditions inside, which are inhumane, are now a threat to any American with a jail in their county — that’s everyone."  Here are passages:

In America’s jails and prisons, people share bathrooms, laundry and eating areas. The toilets in their cells rarely have lids. The toilet tank doubles as the sink for hand washing, tooth brushing and other hygiene. People bunked in the same cell — often as many as four — share these toilets and sinks. Meanwhile, hand sanitizer is not allowed in most prisons because of its alcohol content. Air circulation is nearly always poor. Windows rarely open; soap may only be available if you can pay for it from the commissary.

These deficiencies, inhumane in and of themselves, now represent a threat to anyone with a jail in their community — and there is a jail in every county in the United States. According to health experts, it is not a matter of if, but when, this virus breaks out in jails and prisons. People are constantly churning through jail and prison facilities, being ushered to court hearings, and then being released to their communities — nearly 11 million every year.

“We should recall that we have 5,000 jails and prisons full of people with high rates of health problems, and where health services are often inadequate and disconnected from the community systems directing the coronavirus response,” said Dr. Homer Venters, former chief medical officer of the New York City jail system. “Coronavirus in these settings will dramatically increase the epidemic curve, not flatten it, and disproportionately for people of color.”

Jails are particularly frightening in this pandemic because of their massive turnover. While over 600,000 people enter prison gates annually, there are about 612,000 people in jail on any given day. More than half of the people in jail are only in there for two to three days. In some communities, the county jail or prison is a major employer. Jail staff members are also notoriously underpaid, may not have paid sick leave and are more likely to live in apartments, in close and frequent contact with neighbors. They return home daily to aging parents, pregnant partners or family members with chronic conditions.

Our penal system should have received more comprehensive guidance and material support from the Department of Justice, far earlier in this crisis. Like much of the federal level response, it is falling short....

American officials can learn from the harrowing story of South Korea’s Daenam Hospital. In late February, South Korea had already reported more than 3,150 confirmed cases, and of these, 101 were from patients in the Daenam psychiatric ward.  Seven of these patients have now died.  All but two patients in the ward contracted Covid-19. The ward was put on lockdown, in an attempt to confine the spread of the virus. Instead, the lockdown issued was a death sentence to many inside....

Aging people who are released after serving long sentences have a recidivism rate close to zero.  Governors and other public officials should consider a one-time review of all elderly or infirm people in prisons, providing immediate medical furloughs or compassionate release to as many of them as possible.

Though this NY Times commentary makes a pitch to "Governors and other public officials," I strongly believe criminal justice advocacy groups should be focusing advocacy now toward President Trump, Congress and federal judges.  For starters, if the federal government leads with a strong proactive response, many states and localities are likely to follow suit.  And it seems there are plenty executive branch tools already available under current law ranging from (mass) clemency relief for older and at-risk prisoners, to the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) recommending (mass) compassionate release or release to home confinement for older and at-risk folks or perhaps for everyone who has served, say, 75% of their prison time.

Congress can and should get involved ASAP by enacting emergency legislation that could, for example, give BOP discretion to release any and every prisoner that has been scored at low-risk under the FIRST STEP Act's new risk tools.  Or, perhaps better yet, Congress could authorize the creation of a new "emergency agency" tasked with immediately devising the most effective and humane and just way to reduce the number of persons, in both the federal system and in state systems, now seemingly subject to having a jail or prison sentence turned into a possible death sentence by COVID-19.

Federal judges can and should be proactive here as well. In addition to re-calibrating their 3553(a) sentencing analysis given the ugly new reality of prison life, judges should sua sponte reconsider any and all past denied compassionate release motions because times surely have changed.  I think every single federal prisons has an argument that the coronavirus has created ""extraordinary and compelling reasons" that warrant a sentence reduction, and I wonder if anyone has thoughts about seeking a national class action on behalf of all federal prisoners under the statutory provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) in order to at least establish a baseline of eligibility for sentence modifications. 

I could go on and on, and I likely will in some coming posts.  But the title of this post asks "when and how" not "if" our normal rules will change because I sense some federal judges and prison officials are already working on COVID responses in various scattered ways -- in part because everyone realizes that it is essential for the health of federal prison workers, as well as for prisoners, for there to be smart efforts to reduce prison populations amidst this global pandemic.  At some point, these scattered efforts will become a systematic plan, I sure hope that happens sooner rather than later.

Prior coronavirus posts:

Connecting realities of incarceration to the outbreak of coronavirus 

Rounding up more coverage of the frightening intersection of incarceration and the coronavirus

Eager for stories and thoughts on the impact of the coronavirus on criminal justice, crime and punishment 

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