Meek Mill and Jay-Z have teamed up to donate surgical masks to prisons around the country.
The rappers provided more than 130,000 masks to U.S. correctional facilities over the weekend, spokespeople for the performers told Billboard magazine.
» RELATED: Meek Mill becomes co-owner of hat brand Lids
The donation was made through the duo's justice organization, Reform Alliance, in response to the coronavirus pandemic that has spread in prisons around the country — including in Georgia.
"COVID-19 spreads most quickly in crowded and closed environments, and our jails and prisons are at high risk for an outbreak," reads a notice on the Reform Alliance website. "This is a huge threat to public health. Right now, hardly any government officials have a plan to address this crisis. REFORM does. We have worked with experts and advocates from across the political aisle to develop a set of common-sense recommendations that would make us all SAFER."
The organization, on which Meek Mill serves as a co-chair, has asked for the public's help to get officials' attention on the issue. Reform Alliance has tweeted a link for people to call their governor and sign petitions. One petition is meant to spur public officials to "take steps to protect people in prison or jail from the virus."
» RELATED: Why was Philly rapper Meek Mill honored with a day from Atlanta?
Billboard reports Reform is sending 40,000 masks to the Tennessee Department of Corrections; 5,000 to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, and 50,000 to New York's Rikers Island and 2,500 to its medical facility. Additionally, prisons in South Carolina will receive 36,000 masks. The latter donation came after director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections Bryan Stirling requested help from Reform Alliance.
In a statement, CNN contributor and author Van Jones, who serves as Reform Alliance’s CEO, pointed out the coronavirus outbreak at Rikers.
“Governors and people who run jails and prisons in this country need to take the pandemic in Rikers as a warning,” Jones said. “We're in danger of seeing prisons coast-to-coast turn into morgues. It is important to get medical supplies in, and it is equally important to get more human beings out. REFORM Alliance is working on both.”
About the Author
