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

RUNNING THROUGH THE NUMBERS

Active inmate COVID cases in the Bureau of Prisons reportedly fell 20% last week, from 2,080 to 1,670. But the number of sick staff – who are the ones bringing the disease in from the community and taking it back out – increased again, going from 703 to 726. Likewise, the number of institutions with active cases went from 116 to 118.

Speaking of numbers, the Dept. of Justice Office of Inspector General last Thursday announced a new interactive dashboard with the most comprehensive data yet on the BOP’s COVID-19 cases, deaths, and testing results. The dashboard provides daily graphs and metrics on active and recovered cases for staff and inmates, and on COVID-19 deaths staff and inmates. The data are aggregated for the entire BOP as well as broken down by all 122 individual facilities. They also show testing trends by facility, and provides information on the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county in which a selected prison is located.

The OIG data represents a substantial reference for people filing compassionate release motions. As the Appeal noted last Friday, “Bureau of Prisons facilities have seen some of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks since the start of the pandemic and the department has been criticized for lacking a coherent virus response plan.” The OIG data help make that point.

Some of the latest criticism of the BOP’s COVID response came in a filing a week ago in a suit by Lompoc inmates against the Bureau. Dr. Homer Venters, an expert in epidemiology appointed by the federal court to report on conditions at Lompoc, filed a report criticizing the institution’s use of temperature only (without noting symptoms) to screen for COVID, its quarantining of inmates in punitive conditions in the SHU, lack of effective infection control in housing areas, and a nonresponsive sick call and chronic care system.

In San Diego, where the BOP’s detention center has had 368 inmate COVID-19 cases, a local newspaper reported last week that “one key decision that appears to have facilitated the spread of the virus within the facility happened when a local hospital recommended that instead of bringing an inmate in for a procedure, medical professionals do it at the jail with phone support from the hospital. The inmate was brought to the hospital regardless, and wasn’t quarantined upon his return. Soon, he and the inmates around him tested positive for the virus.”

Outbreaks continue to rage in some locations. A full 77% of inmates at FCI Waseca have contracted COVID-19. As of last Friday, 143 women were still sick. At nearby FMC Rochester, 25 inmates currently have COVID. The prison was clear of the virus just a few weeks ago after an August outbreak sickened more than a dozen inmates. Numbers remain high at Big Spring, Oxford, Coleman, Oklahoma City, Forrest City and Allenwood.

EMS1, a publication for first responders, last week called on the President to “direct the Federal Bureau of Prisons to reduce movement of offenders between facilities, minimize the intake of non-violent offenders, and ensure corrections officers have necessary PPE to prevent further spread of COVID-19 within our nation’s prisons. COs are at high-risk for on-duty exposure and can’t perform their important duties if they are in fear of bringing COVID-19 home to their spouses and children.”

In Virginia, Brian Shoemaker, a USP Lee corrections officer and union president, said Tuesday that the union is concerned about transfers of COVID-19-positive inmates to the prison in September. Shoemaker said that seven inmates brought to the prison since last week tested positive for COVID-19. Two positive inmates arrived last week, he said, and five more positive inmates arrived Monday night. “Institutions in the bureau are eaten up with (COVID-19) and they’re sending cases into a COVID-free prison population,” Shoemaker said.

DOJ Office of the Inspector General, Interactive Dashboards Relating to COVID-19 within the Federal Bureau of Prisons (October 1, 2020)

The Appeal, Coronavirus in jails and prisons (October 2, 2020)

F.R.Ev. 706 Report of Dr. Homer Venters, Torres v, Mulusnic, Case No. 20cv4459 (C.D.Cal, filed September 25, 2020)

Santa Maria Times, Screening shortcomings, lack of timely care identified in federal report on Lompoc prison response to COVID-19 (September 30, 2020)

Minneapolis, KTTC-TV, 70% of inmates at Waseca prison have contracted COVID-19, FMC outbreak reaches new high (October 1, 2020)

EMS1, President Trump, a get-well letter (October 2, 2020)

Voice of San Diego, Morning Report: Key Decisions Fueled COVID’s Spread in Downtown Jail (September 28, 2020)

Johnson City Press, Virginia legislators, prison staff union concerned over inmate COVID-19 cases (September 30, 2020)

– Thomas L. Root

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

COVID-19: NEW REASONS TO BE VERY AFRAID

The Federal Bureau of Prisons once again gained nothing last week in its fight against COVID-19. The number of inmates sick with the hovered all week between 1,915 and 2,045, and last night, hit 2,076. The number of sick staff started climbing again, too, from 631 a week ago to 669. The number of BOP facilities with the virus climbed as well to 117, a whopping 95% of all institutions. Ominously, the number of dead inmates jumped from 125 to 130.

The increase is consistent with concerns that the nation is in for another coronavirus increase in the coming days. And just in time for the fall spike.

The BOP has done enough COVID-19 tests as of last night to test 37% of the BOP inmate population. The percentage of tests that are positive remains 25%.

One of last week’s deaths is especially troubling. On June 1, FCI Butner inmate Ricky Miller tested positive for COVID-19. A month later, he was tested again and declared to be recovered. Two months later, on Sept 9, Ricky developed shortness of breath and leg edema, and was hospitalized. The hospital found that he had COVID-19. He died a day later.

The timing suggests that Ricky caught COVID twice within a few months. If that is so, then the idea that having the disease once confers immunity against getting it again is cast into doubt. And that could mean that COVID-19 will remain a risk until a vaccine is available for inmates.

This comes as new research released last week suggests that the coronavirus can sometimes hijack brain cells, using the cells’ internal machinery to copy itself.

The research, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, provides evidence that the virus can directly infect neurons. Although the coronavirus has been linked to various forms of brain damage, from deadly inflammation to brain diseases known as encephalopathies, all of which can cause confusion, brain fog and delirium, there was little evidence of the virus itself invading brain tissue until now.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Labs in Tennessee announced last week that supercomputer analysis of COVID-19 suggests that the virus triggers a “bradykinin” storm in the body. Bradykinin is a chemical that regulates blood pressure. The researchers found that some people with the coronavirus may produce it in extreme excess, according to Business Insider, throwing major systems — including respiratory, gastrointestinal, and neurological pathways — off balance.

The theory aligns with researchers’ growing view of the coronavirus as a vascular disease instead of a respiratory one. Research has shown that COVID-19 can lead to blood clots, leaky capillaries, and inflamed blood vessels — which is why some patients may experience heart damage or stroke. “We were really scratching our heads for a while, how does this disease have this darn broad set of symptoms across lots of different organ systems?” Dr. Daniel Jacobson, the lead researcher behind the supercomputer study, told Business Insider. “As we looked at the effects of bradykinin, our model was that this virus can affect several different types of tissues, several different organs.”

Meanwhile, the BOP faces new eruptions of COVID-19 at USP Leavenworth, as well as continuing crises at Big Spring, San Diego, Coleman, Waseca and Manchester.

BOP, Inmate Death at FCI Butner (Low) (Sept 17)

Livescience, The new coronavirus can infect brain cells, study finds (Sept 13)

Business Insider, A supercomputer found a promising theory about why COVID-19 cases go downhill fast. It even explains the bizarre range of symptoms (Sept 13) 

Hays, Kansas, Post, Leavenworth tops all federal prisons in COVID-19 cases (Sept 15)

– Thomas L. Root

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

JAIL-STYLE VISITS ARE BETTER THAN NO VISITS AT ALL

The Bureau of Prisons announced last week that visitation at federal prisons will resume by October 3rd, but that all visits will be county jail-style: non-contact, and social distancing between inmates and visitors will be enforced with plexiglass or similar barriers, or physical distancing. Inmates in quarantine or isolation will not allowed visits.

The BOP plan will permit every inmate up to two visits a month. Visitors will be symptom-screened and temperature-checked, and both inmate and visitor must wear masks. Tables, chairs and other “high-touch” surfaces will be cleaned following the completion of visiting each day, the BOP said.

Kevin Ring, president of FAMM, said the BOP’s action represents a “first step” for anxious families who have gone months without seeing loved ones. But he said the proposed restrictions, particularly the prohibition on physical contact, will be “difficult.”

Leaders of BOP employees’ unions think the visits will be difficult, too, but for different reasons. They question the timing of the decision, inasmuch as it’s being instituted just as flu season begins and – experts predict – the coronavirus pandemic may worsen again. Some suggest the BOP is opening “Pandora’s box.”

In order to ensure inmates all get at least two visits per month, visitation days could occur seven days per week, according to Aaron McGlothin, the union leader for employees at FCI Mendota, California. That means more risks for exposure for staff, he said.

“I’m seeing a lot of anger,” said Joe Rojas, the Southeast regional vice president for the national prison union. “We’re coming to the flu season, there’s still a pandemic and then they’re putting up visiting.” Rojas said he knew visitation was important to inmates, and he does not want to remain closed to visits. But “this is important for keeping them safe,” he said.

McGlothin said the BOP should try other methods first, such as allowing inmates to use Zoom or Skype to video chat.

At the same time, questions are now being asked about the longer-term psychological effects of pandemic restrictions on prisoners. Elizabeth Kelley, an attorney and author who has written two books on mental illness and prison, told Forbes magazine that she is concerned that prolonged lack of visitation, along with other COVID-19 limitations, may contribute to a spate of mental illnesses among inmates. “Someone who does not have diagnosable mental illness before going to prison,” Kelley said, “may very well develop one during the pandemic because of profound anxiety, depression and later PTSD caused by the trauma associated with the COVID-19 conditions in federal prison.”

BOP Press Release, Bureau to Resume Social Visitation (September 1, 2020)

USA Today, Federal prisons resume visitation in October, 7 months after COVID-19 forced suspension (September 1, 2020)

Impact 2020, Federal prisons are lifting COVID-19 visitor restrictions — and workers are worried (September 3, 2020)

Forbes, Mental Fatigue, Anxiety and Hopelessness, Welcome to Today’s American Federal Prison Experience (August 28, 2020)

– Thomas L. Root