We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
JANUARY 2022’S KIND OF LIKE JANUARY 2021
A year ago, the Bureau of Prisons was in the grip of a major COVID outbreak. How major? Back on New Year’s Day 2020, there were 6,831 sick inmates and 1,750 sick staff.
Things aren’t quite that bad right now, but as of last night, the number of sick inmates had increased 425% over the past two weeks, from 289 on December 20 to 1,516 currently. Sick staff increased 110% from 243 to 511. COVID is present at 94% of BOP facilities.
The percentage of vaccinated inmates inched up last week a half a point to 73.8%. Staff vaxxes still lag, up only 3/10th of a point to 69.1%.
Meanwhile, the nation is a hot mess. Last year, the country had 231,000 cases on New Year’s Day. Yesterday, there were 444,000.
A Fort Worth Star-Telegram story last Thursday reported on a December 16th FMC Fort Worth COVID death. The story noted that the inmate “is the 16th man to die from COVID-19 at FMC Fort Worth, according to BOP data. At the prison, ten incarcerated men and seven BOP staffers had confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday… People incarcerated in prisons are at least 4.77 times more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than the general population, according to the Federal Public Community Defenders. At the federal women’s prison in Fort Worth, FMC Carswell, 70 women tested positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday and 22 BOP staff members had the virus. According to BOP data, FMC Carswell, — which is also a federal medical facility — had the 6th highest number of cases of all BOP facilities as of Thursday.”
In Connecticut, a female inmate at FCI Danbury has sued the BOP alleging that she was wrongly passed over for CARES Act home confinement because she cannot safely be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Monique Brady, 46, contends in her December 16, 2021, complaint filed that she was wrongly passed over for home confinement even though she has underlying medical conditions that make her vulnerable to the disease. According to filings in Whitted v. Easter, the class-action litigation against FCI Danbury over COVID at the institution, which was settled largely in the inmates’ favor, Brady received one dose of vaccine but not the second. The institution’s medical staff advised her not to receive a second shot due to her reaction to the first one.
The BOP has previously told the Whitted v. Easter court that it would not consider home confinement for inmates who did not get fully vaccinated.
The BOP continues to declare inmates recovered under its very liberal reading of CDC guidelines. Reality is not as forgiving. A research paper released last week reported that “Covid-19 can spread within days from the airways to the heart, brain and almost every organ system in the body, where it may persist for months.” In what Bloomberg described as the most comprehensive analysis to date of the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s distribution and persistence in the body and brain, scientists at the National Institutes of Health said they found the pathogen is capable of replicating in human cells well beyond the respiratory tract.”
The report pointed to delayed viral clearance as a potential contributor to the persistent symptoms wracking so-called long-haul COVID sufferers.
Ft Worth Star-Telegram, Man is 16th to die from COVID-19 at Fort Worth prison; cases spike at women’s facility (December 30, 2021)
Connecticut Insider, Lawsuit: Unvaccinated woman convicted in $10M Ponzi scheme a ‘sitting duck’ for COVID at CT prison (January 3, 2022)
Bloomberg, Coronavirus Can Persist for Months After Traversing Body (December 26, 2021)
Daniel Chertow, et al., SARS-CoV-2 infection and persistence throughout the human body and brain (Nat’l Institutes of Health, December 20, 2021)
– Thomas L. Root