Ugly details on COVID realities in federal prison in Louisiana as Bureau of Prisons slowly updates system-wide spread

The Washington Post has this troubling report, headlined "An explosion of coronavirus cases cripples a federal prison in Louisiana," about what is going on the federal prison where the first federal inmate died from contracting the coronavirus.  Here are excerpts:

A federal prison in Louisiana has, within days, exploded with coronavirus cases, leading to the death of one inmate on Saturday, the admission of a guard into a hospital intensive care unit, and positive test results for another 30 inmates and staff.  Patrick Jones, 49, was the first inmate in the Federal Bureau of Prisons diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, which causes covid-19, and the first to die.

At least 60 inmates at the Oakdale prison are in quarantine and an unknown number of staff are self-quarantining at home, said Corey Trammel, a union representative for correctional officers at the 1,700-inmate facility about 110 miles northwest of Baton Rouge. “It’s been simultaneous, just people getting sick back to back to back to back,” Trammel said. “We don’t know how to protect ourselves. Staff are working 36-hour shifts — there’s no way we can keep going on like this.”

The prison bureau is not releasing the names of other infected inmates or staff, citing medical and privacy concerns. Jones complained of a “persistent cough” on March 19, the prison bureau said, and was transported to a hospital where he was diagnosed and placed on a ventilator. The prison bureau also said Jones had “long-term, preexisting medical conditions” that increased his risk of developing the disease. Jones was convicted in 2017 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine within 1,000 feet of a junior college. He was serving a 27-year sentence....

Trammel said the prison bureau has been slow to respond to the crisis across the country. The bureau last week banned family and friends from visiting inmates, but the officers’ union had lobbied the federal prison system to take this action for weeks to keep the disease from infiltrating the prison walls.

The Bureau of Prisons updates confirmed coronavirus cases most afternoons on its website, but there has been a lag between cases reported by the officers’ union and prison officials. As of Sunday afternoon, the prison system had only confirmed 14 inmates and 13 staff have tested positive.

At Oakdale, Trammel said staff also asked prison officials — weeks before the first coronavirus case — to shut down a prison labor program within the facility, where more than 100 prisoners make inmate clothing. The program, Trammel said, was not shut down until after the first inmate tested positive. The Bureau of Prisons — which operates 122 prisons with more than 175,000 inmates — did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment. Oakdale Warden Rod Myers could also not be reached for comment.

Trammel said he asked the prison bureau on Saturday to send specialized medical teams to the facility to help with staffing shortages. He’s also asking for hazard pay, which would increase their salaries by 25 percent as they respond to the crisis. And he’s asking for more robust protective gear, including masks with respirators and perhaps face shields. “We are bringing inmates to the hospitals and are staying right beside them around the clock,” Trammel said. “All we have is these itty bitty masks — a piece of towel over our faces — and nurses are coming into the room for a few minutes and they are all suited up.”

He also said he believes all Oakdale prison staff have now been exposed to the virus. Days ago, he interacted with an inmate who had a fever and still doesn’t know if the prisoner has received a test. “We should all be in quarantine,” Trammel said. “We should not be going in to spread this monster of a virus.”

Interestingly, BOP on this COVID-19 Update page says it is updating its "dashboard daily at 3:00 p.m." BOP did not seem to do daily updates over the weekend (if only COVID took weekends off).  But, perhaps prodded by this Washington Post piece, it seems BOP did do an update this morning as it now reports that 19 federal inmates and 19 federal prison staffers have tested positive for COVID-19.  Here is where those numbers come from:

(Inmate) 3/29/2020 - MDC Brooklyn; FCC Oakdale (5); USP Atlanta (2); MCC New York (3); FMC Butner; FCI Otisville; RRC Phoenix, AZ; RRC Brooklyn, NY (4); RRC Janesville, WI.

(Staff) 3/29/2020 - Grand Prairie, TX; Leavenworth, KS (no inmate contact); Yazoo, MS (2); Atlanta, GA; Danbury, CT; Butner, NC; Ray Brook, NY; New York, NY (2); Chicago, IL (2); Brooklyn, NY (3); Oakdale, LA (3); Lompoc, CA.

Disconcertingly, the Washington Post piece reports "positive test results for another 30 inmates and staff" from Oakdale, LA, whereas the updated BOP page appears to be reporting only eight positives (five inmates, three staff) in that facility.  I sure would like to be able to trust, and I sure would like for federal prosecutors and judges and defendants to be able to trust, the data coming from the BOP.  But for now I am more inclined to trust my pessimistic instinct that every federal facility has coronavirus problems and these problems seem all but certain to get worse in the days and weeks ahead.

A few of many prior related with a focus on federal facilities posts:

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