In this post yesterday, I noted a press piece which reported that Attorney General William Barr had said that a "total of six inmates and four prison staffers have tested positive for COVID-19." Because my post was done after 3pm yesterday, I was able to then report that, as of March 26, the BOP was reporting 10 federal inmates and 8 federal prison staffers had tested positive for COVID-19. It is now after 3pm on March 27, and the BOP's COVID-19 Update page is now reporting that 14 federal inmates and 12 federal prison staffers have tested positive for COVID-19. Here is where those numbers come from:
(Inmate) 3/27/2020 - MDC Brooklyn; FCC Oakdale (5); USP Atlanta (2); MCC New York (2); RRC Phoenix; RRC Brooklyn (3). (Note: Symptomatic inmates are isolated in accordance with CDC guidelines.)
(Staff) 3/27/2020 - 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.
In addition to wishing all these individuals well, I am also wishing that everyone expects and acts as if these numbers are likely to grow exponentially in the days and weeks to come. Public official have the power, and now that power must be used, to avoid turning far too many prisons sentences into essentially death sentences.
A few of many prior related posts:
- When and how will federal authorities start systematically modifying federal sentencing and prison realities in response to COVID-19 outbreak?
- Who in Trump Administration is involved in "actually looking at" using executive action to release "totally nonviolent prisoners"?
- With lives at stake, when will we start to see mass clemency and compassionate release?
- "U.S. attorney general seeks to expand home confinement as coronavirus spreads in prisons"
- FAMM urges AG Barr to use new pending CARES Act provision to move federal prisoners into home confinement
- "Correctional Facilities In The Shadow Of COVID-19: Unique Challenges And Proposed Solutions"
- "Four Things Every Prison System Must Do Today"
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