Prisons’ Coronavirus Risk Puts Justice Department Under Pressure
Prisons’ Coronavirus Risk Puts Justice Department Under Pressure
(Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department is under increasing pressure to take measures to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus in federal prisons across the U.S., including finding ways to quickly identify and isolate infected prisoners.
In response, the department’s Federal Bureau of Prisons told the largest union representing federal correction officers during a meeting on Thursday that it’s poised to announce major steps to deal with the challenge, according to Joe Rojas, a union official.
“The Justice Department needs to be proactive instead of reactive,” said Rojas, southeast regional vice president for Council 33 of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 22,000 correction workers in federal prisons. It wasn’t immediately clear when the announcement would be made.
The bureau faces mounting concerns from lawmakers, union officials and criminal justice advocacy groups that federal prisons aren’t equipped to prepare for or manage a spread of coronavirus in their prison population.
It’s an issue as well for other facilities -- from state prisons and local jails to psychiatric hospitals and immigration detention centers -- that hold the vast majority of the people in custody in the U.S. They total 2.3 million people, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
In a letter on Thursday evening, Representative Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Attorney General William Barr about “measures taken to ensure the health and welfare” of inmates as well as correction officers and other staff.
Nadler inquired about testing and hygiene and whether inmates were being monitored for signs of infection. He also suggested that the department consider steps “to reduce the number of prisoners in government custody.”
There hasn’t been a confirmed case of coronavirus within a federal prison, but workers and prison advocates say it’s only a matter of time.
“They have not been proactive,” Rojas said in an interview. Prisons haven’t even provided hand sanitizers for workers, he said.
‘Anxious’ Staff
“A lot of our staff is getting anxious because they would like to see things being done,” he said. The union is concerned an outbreak could spark riots, he said.
The Bureau of Prisons, according to a bureau official, is working with the Justice Department and White House to approve and put in place new procedures, including those affecting the movement of inmates, the travel of staff and disinfecting facilities.
In particular, the agency plans to soon begin requiring all visitors to be screened, said the official, who asked for anonymity to speak about policies that have yet to be officially announced. The details for screenings was still being worked out, the official added.
The official also said that the agency had already taken numerous actions. The bureau activated pandemic and influenza plans immediately after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the U.S., established a COVID-19 preparedness group on March 2, and activated an emergency operations center in Washington on March 9.
All newly arriving inmates are screened for exposure risk factors and symptoms. Those who have risk factors are being quarantined and those that are symptomatic are being held in isolation, the official said. The official wasn’t able to provide the number of inmates in those categories.
Shane Fausey, president of Council 33, sent an email to the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Michael Carvajal, on March 8 citing “mounting concern from the field and across the country.”
Recommendations from the union included suspending all visitation, especially in states that have declared a state of emergency; immediate heath screening and assessments of all non-employees entering all facilities; suspending all non-emergency inmate transfers and movements; and distribution of masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and antibacterial soap.
Senators’ Letter
Rojas said there was no response to the letter and concerns until Thursday, when Fausey was called into a meeting with Bureau of Prisons officials.
The Bureau of Prisons also issued a memo on March 9 with procedures aimed at protecting staff and inmates from coronavirus, including those who recently returned from a country or region of concern. The guidance advises personnel to use an online tool to screen and assess their condition and then report it to the agency.
A group of 15 Democratic senators sent Carvajal a letter this week expressing their concerns about an outbreak in federal prisons.
“Over 175,000 individuals are incarcerated in federal prisons and jails, and thousands of incarcerated people, their families and friends, and correctional staff move in and out of federal prisons every day,” according to the March 9 letter, signed by Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. “The unconstrained spread of coronavirus in federal prisons and jails endangers the federal prison population, correctional staff and the general public.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert
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