Increase in COVID-19 inmate cases spurs calls for help

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Inside a suffocating prison in rural North Florida, mass testing of hundreds of inmates began almost two weeks ago on a Saturday, when corrections workers attempted to classify and quarantine prisoners with COVID symptoms- 19.

At that time, many inmates came into close contact with the Columbia Correctional Institution. A few days later, the results came: More than 400 prisoners had tested positive, the most infections at any correctional facility in the state.

“They mixed the positive with the negative. They mixed positives with people who had no test results. But you know, they had no choice. They had no other place to locate us, ”William Jennings, a prison inmate who tested negative last week, told the Florida News Service in an interview Tuesday.

“I have no doubt that I am positive now,” Jennings added, pointing to a mild fever and body aches as recent symptoms.

As of Wednesday, 5,361 state inmates and correctional workers had tested positive for COVID-19, a deadly respiratory illness that has been shown to be efficient in moving quickly around prisons and jails. In addition, 34 prisoners have died since April.

The surge in cases in Florida’s prison system came as the state became a global access point for the virus. As more inmates and workers test positive, prisoners and advocates of criminal justice reform plead with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to do more to address the problem.

“People are the loved ones of your constituents who depend on you to protect them. They want leadership and expect you to provide it. I beg your help, “Denise Rock, executive director of the Florida Cares nonprofit inmate advocacy group, wrote Tuesday in a letter to the governor.

Rock wants DeSantis to grant the early release of certain inmates, particularly low-level non-violent criminals and prisoners who have six months left on their sentences, to help address the spread of the virus in the system.

Senate President of Civil and Criminal Justice Assignments Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg agrees and has asked DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet to take such steps.

“The governor and the cabinet absolutely have the authority to do this,” Brandes said in an interview on Wednesday. “How bad do things have to get before they are actually going to act?”

Brandes said inmates could be placed under house arrest, electronic monitoring, or other community supervision when they are released.

But Criminal Justice Chamber President James Grant, a Republican from Tampa, said in an interview that he does not believe it is an “acceptable approach” to release people from jail due to the pandemic.

“The question is, how do I look a constituent in the eye who is burying a family member because I advocated letting someone out of prison who has a violent past or had no reason to get out of prison alone in COVID name? -19, ”Grant said.

DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter. But in early April, when the prison system had a total of 73 COVID-19 cases, the governor said releasing criminals would not improve the situation.

“I don’t see how in a pandemic moment where people are already nervous (that) releasing criminals in society would make much sense. I think it makes everything we are doing with social distancing more difficult, “DeSantis told reporters.

The governor disapproved of other states’ decisions that granted the early release of certain prisoners and argued that the individuals were “dangerous people.”

Since the governor made those comments, the number of cases in the Florida prison system has exploded. The Florida Department of Corrections this month released emergency plans in two prisons that were severely understaffed due to the pandemic.

The plans required Dade Correctional Institution and Jefferson Correctional Institution workers to work 12-hour shifts up to six days a week to ensure “adequate levels of staff” are maintained.

Greg Newburn, Florida executive director of the Families Against the Minimum Standards group, said releasing certain inmates would protect people and should be part of the state’s COVID-19 strategy.

“There are some people who can be safely released in the community, and we can protect them from COVID-19, we can stop the spread within the prisons, and we can stop the spread of prisons to the community by releasing them, Newburn said.” There is a number, but zero cannot be the efficient number of pitches. “

The goal would be to reduce overcrowding in prisons, which could reduce exposure to the virus, and improve the working conditions of corrections employees, Brandes said.

At the Columbia Correctional Institution, where the number of inmates testing positive on Wednesday increased to 574, Jennings said corrections workers are thoroughly cleaning the facility and applying a mask requirement for inmates and staff.

Despite preventive measures, he said inmates and workers are getting sick because not much more can be done now that the coronavirus is inside the prison and it is almost impossible to maintain social distancing.

“What irritates me is that in other states, when this problem first comes, they went and said, ‘OK, well, we’re going to free these inmates who have this time left.'” … And Florida acts like we don’t do anything about it, “he said.

Jennings, 44, is serving life in prison for an armed robbery because he was a repeat offender. He said he had a $ 300 a day cocaine addiction when he committed the crime in 1997.

“They called me the thief knight because I said please and thank you for the money. I told my victims that I was not there to hurt anyone … I was there for the money, “he said.

William Forrester, a single-lung Bay Correctional Center inmate, tested positive for COVID-19 after the Department of Corrections denied his request to be suspended from home confinement. He is one of 240 inmates who tested positive at the Panhandle facility, which is operated by The Geo Group, a private contractor.

Forrester, who is turning 15 for a drug trafficking offense, has been dealing with severe body aches, headaches, stomach cramps, diarrhea, and loss of smell and taste, according to a July 13 email she shared with the Service. of News.

In the email, he said a prison doctor stopped distributing common pain relievers, such as Tylenol and ibuprofen, because the drug “masks the fever.”

The Department of Administrative Services, which oversees private prison contracts, and The Geo Group, did not immediately respond to questions about Forrester’s claim that the drugs were denied to inmates with the virus.

“To me, that’s just inhumane,” Forrester wrote.