Mass arrests are even more dangerous during a pandemic. Being arrested in a group of protesters is never a neat affair. There are the hours in handcuffs. The crowds. The lack of medical supplies. The long wait to be processed by frustrated cops overwhelmed by the crush of business. The possibility that you were swept up while committing no crime at all. And these days, all of this misery is compounded by fears of COVID-19 and the public health risks that accompany mass detention, usually taking place in cramped spaces. TMP’s Keri Blakinger and Abbie VanSickle have our story. The Marshall Project

The virus is in our nation’s jails. Now what? Public health experts correctly predicted that prisons and jails would become prime vectors of COVID-19 cases because of the inability of prisoners and staff to meaningfully practice “social distancing.” Now that this has happened in jails across the country, researchers are trying out statistical models to help officials decide how many people ought to be released to stem the coronavirus’s spread. Bottom line: The more jail populations are reduced, the more it flattens the curve inside jails and out. In collaboration with FiveThirtyEight, and with additional reporting by Laura Bronner, TMP’s Anna Flagg has our story. The Marshall Project

Why they protest in Minneapolis. Minnesota police use force against black people at seven times the rate of white people. The New York Times The state’s attorney general adds new charges to the case against Derek Chauvin, the officer accused of murdering George Floyd. The three other officers implicated in Floyd’s death, for the first time, also are charged. Minneapolis Star Tribune Floyd’s family says it is gratified by progress. The Washington Post Minneapolis public school system ends its contract with the police department in protest after Floyd’s death. WCCO Two new lawsuits filed in federal court allege that Minneapolis police and state patrol targeted journalists and used excessive force against protesters. Twin Cities Pioneer Press “Less lethal” force still takes a terrible toll. Slate

Secret police out in public. Federal law enforcement officials have blocked their names and insignias as they patrolled streets in Washington, D.C. MSNBC Experts, including former police officials, explain why this tactic is dangerous for both protesters and law enforcement officials. The Washington Post Bureau of Prisons employees were reportedly patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital while federal prisoners were put into lockdown again. The Appeal U.S. Attorney General William Barr is getting credit, and blame, for transferring BOP staffers to the streets. HuffPost More: White House still scrambling to explain the president’s Bible stunt earlier in the week. The Washington Post

Taking it to the streets. Police in Los Angeles ramp up their aggressive tactics in the past few days; arrests from protests, vandalism, soar past 3,000. Los Angeles Times Los Angeles moves to cut $150 million from its police budget. Los Angeles Times Seattle police continue to use flash-bang grenades to quell protests despite police commission concerns about the dangers of their use. Seattle Times The protests have taken their toll on officers, too. The New York Times But some cops themselves “rioted.” HuffPost Police cameras, cell phones, continue to alter the effects of encounters between cops and civilians. The Washington Post Related: Barack Obama Wednesday urged the nation’s mayors to review their police use-of-force policies and commit to meaningful, sustained reforms. CBS News

A Nebraska prosecutor now says he may ask a grand jury to investigate the shooting death of James Scurlock, a black protester killed by a white bar owner over the weekend. The district attorney said earlier this week he would not bring charges. Omaha World-Herald Related: Gov. Pete Ricketts apologizes for calling black residents “you people” amid fallout from Scurlock’s death. The Washington Post

Secretly recorded telephone conversations between police officers in Mount Vernon, New York, reveal rampant corruption and brutality going back years. A police whistleblower forwarded the tapes to the local district attorney, who now is embroiled in the scandal, before going public with the evidence. Gothamist/WNYC

A police officer in Denver, Colorado, has been fired over an Instagram post in which he reportedly declared: “Let’s start a riot.” Colorado Sun More: Police in Los Angeles, California, will limit the use of rubber bullets on protesters. Los Angeles Times Police in Sacramento, California, are investigating an arrest in which a cop appears to have used a “neck restraint” on another suspect. Tribune News Service Another night of peaceful protest in Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore Sun

The president of the police union in Minneapolis, Minnesota, draws criticism for flip comments about police shootings. “But I’ve been involved in three shootings myself, and not one of them has bothered me. Maybe I’m different,” said Bob Kroll. The Intercept

So many residents of Chicago, Illinois, were killed by gunfire Sunday that city officials had to bring in more forensic pathologists to process the bodies. Chicago Tribune

There’s a way, there’s just no will. We know what it takes to reform policing, to increase police accountability and transparency, and limit brutality and discrimination. We just don’t have the political will to make the changes. The Atlantic More: Part of the problem is that the police do too much and too little. NPR How Trump’s Justice Department undid the reforms of the Obama era. Slate

The priest gassed by police so the president could make his campaign commercial. “All so that Trump could use the church as a backdrop and wave the Bible like a prop. It was beyond offensive. It was sacrilege.” The Washington Post Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis denounces Trump’s “deliberate effort” to “divide.” The Atlantic Related: From Republican senators, silence about the president’s Bible stunt. MSNBC

Congress should lead on restricting the scope of qualified immunity to help hold cops more accountable for shootings and other brutality. National Review Related: State tort laws, too, need reforming to ensure that municipalities can be better held responsible for gross police misconduct. Slate More: Bust police unions already. Reason

The bitter truth in Atlanta. “Although as mayor, the chief of police reports to me, in that moment, I knew what every other parent to a black child in America knows: I could not protect my son.” The New York Times Related: Turns out body cameras won’t stop enough police officers from committing crimes. The New York Times TMP Context: What you need to know about body cameras. The Marshall Project

Insult to injury. Turns out the no-knock warrant that led to Breonna Taylor’s shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, was illegal. The Washington Post

Correction of the Day: In Wednesday’s Opening Statement, we mistakenly characterized tear gas. It’s use in war is banned by international treaties. Its use by governments against their own people is not. We apologize for the error.

Testimony of the Day: No Russian hoax, testified former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Washington Post

Election of the Day: Ella Jones is elected mayor of Ferguson, Missouri, nearly six years after the police shooting of Michael Brown and the unrest that followed. She is the first black person to hold the office, and the first woman. The New York Times

Quote of the Day: “My father has never stopped being a dad,” says Ebony Underwood, who worries about her incarcerated father fending off the coronavirus in New Jersey. The Appeal

Question of the Day: The coronavirus forced the closure of courthouses across the state of Washington. Judges and other officials now are asking: How do we start it back up? Seattle Times

Book Review of the Day: In “The Dispossessed: Welcome and Refusal at the U.S. Border,” author John Washington takes a close look at why Central Americans are fleeing their own countries and coming to the U.S. border. High Country News