David Jacobs/ The Center Square
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Federal Bureau of Prisons, seeking the release of inmates at high risk of serious complications and death from COVID-19 from a federal prison in Louisiana.
Bureau of Prisons officials say they are following their approved pandemic response plan, which has been modified to deal with the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
Oakdale Federal Detention Centers in Oakdale, has confirmed five coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic started – more than any other Bureau of Prisons facility, the ACLU says.
According to prisons officials, the most recent Oakdale inmate to die was Wallace Holley Jr., 56, who was serving a 336-month sentence for armed robbery, carjacking and related charges. Prison officials say Holley, who “had long-term, pre-existing medical conditions which the CDC lists as risk factors for developing more severe COVID-19 disease,” died April 2.
The ACLU says crowded prisons “where social distancing is impossible” jeopardize efforts to minimize the number of people sick at the same time, putting additional stress on “already overloaded medical resources.”
Alanah Odoms Herbert, executive director with the ACLU of Louisiana, said, “Public health experts are consistent in warning that prisons and jails are extremely dangerous incubators for this disease. Conditions are now deadly – threatening the health of incarcerated people, staff and the surrounding community.”
Louisiana has one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in the nation. Ten Louisiana parishes are among the nation’s top 20 counties for COVID-19 deaths per capita, public health officials say.
Officials also say about 70% of state residents who have died from the illness were black, compared to only about 32% of the state’s population.
On March 13, the Bureau of Prisons began using a number of tactics meant to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in their facilities, including visitation and inmate-movement restrictions, increased health screening of staff and inmates, and increased sanitary measures, the bureau says. All bureau facilities have been directed to designate available space for isolation and quarantine for inmates who have been exposed to or have symptoms of the virus, federal officials say.
The bureau says it also has instituted mandatory 14-day quarantines for all new inmates and is working with the U.S. Marshals Service, federal courts, and state and local institutions to mitigate the risk of exposure in pre-trial detention and jail facilities and during transfers.
Bureau officials say they have been coordinating their COVID-19 efforts using subject-matter experts and guidance from the Office of the Vice President, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Office of Personnel Management.
Attorney General William Barr has ordered the Bureau of Prisons to increase the use of home confinement and expedite the release of eligible high-risk inmates at three federal prisons with large numbers of COVID-19 cases, including Oakdale. Those decisions are being made on a case-by-case basis, and ACLU leaders say they are concerned the process is happening too slowly.