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Legal Aid Sues State For More COVID-19 Data At Prisons, Where The Pandemic Rages
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Dec 19, 2020
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By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Dec 19, 2020
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The Legal Aid Society is suing the state for the release of information on the spread of COVID-19 in prisons, arguing that the Department of Corrections has failed to identify the facilities where officers have contracted the virus, making it impossible to trace how widespread the virus is within the prison system.
“The virus doesn't distinguish between correctional officers, correctional staff, counselors, and our clients who are locked up,” Robert Quackenbush, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project, said. “If the interest is public health, it doesn’t make sense for the statistics to make those distinctions either.”
The lawsuit comes as COVID-19 continues to spread at a number of state prisons, with 370 new infections from December 9th to December 17th, according to DOC. Because of how the Corrections Department tallies new infections, it’s difficult to determine the overall positivity rate in the system, or at most individual prisons.
Overall, six corrections officers and 19 incarcerated people have died from COVID since the start of the outbreak.
Where tabulation was possible, the numbers were jarring. For example, at Clinton Correctional Facility in Upstate New York, 37 of 82 new tests performed last week came back positive, according to DOC, suggesting the positivity rate could be as high as 45%.
“The state’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak has been guided by facts, scientific data, and the guidance of public health experts,” Thomas O'Malley, a spokesperson for the Corrections Department, said.
O’Malley did not comment on the pending litigation.
DOC has halted all visits to the facility at Attica, Auburn, Cayuga and Groveland correctional facilities indefinitely, where there were 38, 14, and 30 new COVID-19 infections in the last week, according to a Gothamist/WNYC analysis.
DOC also confirmed to Gothamist/WNYC, that starting on Monday, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, it plans to implement a regular testing regimen for asymptomatic incarcerated people. Up to this point, the policy was only to test people if they were exhibiting symptoms or had been exposed to someone confirmed to have COVID-19, though the Centers for Disease Control now estimates asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic cases account for as much as 50% of transmission.
“A number of incarcerated individuals from each facility to be tested every weekday, from multiple housing units, in order to avert potential outbreaks and target resources to facilities and housing units identified as a potential problem,” said O'Malley, who did not provide further specifics.
Quackenbush said the new testing regimen was a welcome improvement, but he wondered what took so long.
“I think the implication is pretty clear that they should have been doing it all along,” he said. “It should start today.”
As COVID-19 infections climb inside prisons, as well as the communities surrounding them across the state, advocates are once again ringing alarm bells, demanding Governor Andrew Cuomo take broader steps to release medically frail and elderly prisoners, who are more susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19.
“They are terrified,” said Jose Saldana, with the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, who’s in contact with incarcerated people and their loved ones on the outside. “They feel that the Department to Corrections is just leaving their loved ones in a facility to get infected and the elderly may not survive this infection.”
Over the course of the outbreak the state said it had released 3,533 people early, most of whom were within 90 days of their release, or who had low-level parole violations canceled.
Spokespersons for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Tagged
COVID-19
prison
Gwynne Hogan
Gwynne Hogan is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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