By Matt Sledge
The Times-Picayune
OAKDALE, La. — Two inmates at a federal prison complex near Alexandria have died from coronavirus infections as the sprawling facility grapples with an outbreak so severe that authorities have given up on testing for it.
Now, advocates are calling for federal prisoners at the facility to be granted temporary reprieves to home confinement, and the local mayor fears that the prison could serve as a vector of disease for many guards who live nearby.
The prison complex in Oakdale, Allen Parish about midway between Lake Charles and Alexandria may be seeing the most severe COVID-19 outbreak at any federal lock-up. A 49-year-old inmate housed in one part of the sprawling complex, which houses nearly 1,900 people between two institutions, died on Saturday after a week on a ventilator at a hospital.
Patrick Jones, a Texan serving time for a non-violent drug charge, became the first inmate in U.S. Bureau of Prisons custody to die from COVID-19.
On Wednesday, a second inmate with a coronavirus diagnosis, 43-year-old Nicholas Rodriguez, succumbed after a week on a ventilator. Officials said Rodgriguez, who was also serving time for non-violent drug charges, had “long-term pre-existing medical conditions.”
Eleven inmates at Oakdale have tested positive, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. But that number is or may soon be an undercount: So many people are infected that the prison administration has given up on testing suspected COVID-19 cases.
“Local health authorities” requested that move to preserve limited testing resources, a federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman said.
“The facility is presently locked down commensurate with community sustained transmission protocols, symptomatic inmates are isolated, and additional resources are being provided to manage all symptomatic inmates with appropriate care,” said the spokesman, Justin Long.
In an email, one inmate at the low-security camp on prison grounds described an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty about how far the virus has spread, with dozens of inmates placed in quarantine.
“We, as inmates, have no rights for updates or to know how things are really happening, which in my opinion is not the way to maintain order. All we know and see are ambulances coming over to the prison behind us and picking up infected inmates,” Marco Pesquera, who’s serving a 38-month sentence for visa fraud, said on Friday.
Pesquera said he thinks the Bureau of Prisons usually does a good job of running the prison. But he wondered why there hasn’t been quicker action to place inmates in home confinement for the duration of the pandemic.
U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr on Thursday directed federal prisons to release some sick and older inmates convicted of lower-level offenses to home confinement. But he also cautioned against the release of inmates who could potentially spread COVID-19, which could complicate releases from Oakdale.
Across the country, 57 inmates and 37 Bureau of Prisons staffers have tested positive for coronavirus.
On Tuesday, the Bureau of Prisons announced its latest step to confront the coronavirus threat: a 14-day lockdown in all its facilities.
Prisoner advocates slammed that move as “dangerously weak” in a press release, and called for the immediate release to home confinement of older and high-risk inmates.
“Anything less is unconscionable, will lead to faster spread of this disease, and more deaths in prisons and beyond their walls,” said Inimai Chettiar, legislative and policy director for the Justice Action Network.
In Oakdale, locals fear that the prison outbreak could spread into the community, Mayor Gene Paul said. Paul said communication between the Bureau of Prisons and his town has been spotty.
Although he’s pleased that a lockdown has been instituted now, Paul said he thinks the federal government should have acted sooner to clamp down on the spread of coronavirus. He worries that Oakdale’s lone hospital could be overwhelmed.
“This is a small community,” Paul said. “Everyone has a relative or a loved one that works there, and for 10 days or a week they were working around this environment and coming home to their families and loved ones. Naturally, everyone’s worried and concerned — do I have this?”
———
©2020 The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate