We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

COVID – BOP GETS PAT ON BACK, KICK IN PANTS

In a self-congratulatory press release issued late last week, the BOP said it has been commended by Operation Warp Speed – the Trump COVID-19 vaccine program – for having been the most efficient agency in the entire government at administering COVID vaccine. According to the CDC, the BOP has used 97% of the doses it has received.

Of course, it helps that the BOP has a captive audience. Not among staff so much: in a troubling report, the BOP said only half of its staff offered the vaccine have taken it. But the inmates… that’s another story. Doses not used by staff at the locations receiving it – about 68 of 122 facilities so far – have been offered to inmates using CDC priorities, and there are plenty of takers. The BOP so far has administered over 17,000 doses of the vaccine, a first dose to about 7,600 staff and 5,500 inmates, and a second dose to about 1,000 staff and 1,100 inmates. In other words, only 24% of staff and 4% of inmates have been vaccinated so far.

As of last Thursday – the last day the BOP bothered to release numbers – 4807 inmates and 2049 staff were reported to be sick with COVID. The BOP has tested two out of three inmates at least once, with a positivity rate that keeps climbing. Currently, 43% of inmate tests come back positive.

Death took no holiday last week as an additional eight inmates died last week. Significantly, two of the deaths – at FCI Jesup and FCI Memphis – were of inmates the BOP has previously declared to be “recovered.”  The BOP is quite quick to declare inmates “recovered” when 10 days pass after a positive teas. The declaration is based on CDC guidance, the BOP says, but is often misapplied, with the agency ignoring any continuing symptom other than a fever. 

FCI Fort Dix, where 321 inmates are still reported to have the virus, is set to get the COVID-19 vaccine next week, according to NJ Advance Media. BOP case management coordinator James Reiser told a court on Wednesday that the prison expects to receive COVID-19 vaccine on Jan 19. It is unclear how many doses the prison will initially receive, Reiser said.

New Jersey Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker and Congressman Andy Kim led members of the New Jersey congressional delegation last week in urging the DOJ Inspector General to expand his ongoing investigation into the BOP COVID-19 response to include its handling of the Fort Dix outbreak.

Finally, a kick in the pants: the DOJ Inspector General last week reported that last April, BOP employees at FCC Coleman were threatened with discipline if they wore personally-acquired masks , and sometimes were sent home on sick leave for wearing such coverings. One complainant reported that a supervisor had said wearing a mask would “scare the inmates,” the OIG report said.

BOP, COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts Commended (January 16, 2021)

New Jersey Advance Media, N.J. prison with worst COVID-19 outbreak in the country set to get vaccine next week (January 13, 2021)

InsiderNJ, Menendez, Booker, Kim Lead NJ Delegation Call for IG Probe into COVID-19 Outbreak at Fort Dix (January 15, 2021)

Orlando Sentinel, Federal prison in Central Florida banned masks for staff as pandemic began, report says (January 14, 2021)

– Thomas L. Root