By David DeBolt
Palo Alto Daily News, Calif.
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — Four inmates at San Quentin State Prison died over the weekend of apparent COVID-19 complications, bringing the virus’ death toll there to 19.
With more than 2,000 total positive cases, San Quentin is the site of the nation’s second-worst prison virus outbreak, not far behind Ohio’s Marion Correctional Institute.
Death Row inmate Johnny Avila Jr., 62, died Sunday at a hospital outside prison grounds, the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections said. Avila was sentenced to death in Fresno County in 1996 for two counts of first-degree murder.
Avila is the 10th Death Row inmate to die of the virus. Statewide, COVID-19 has caused or contributed to the deaths of 47 incarcerated people.
The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office identified three other San Quentin inmates: Siverin Whitney, 68; Eric William Warner, 57 and Joseph C. Townsel, 60. Whitney died Friday and Warner and Townsel on Saturday, according to the coroner’s office.
CDRC said the deaths appear to be related to the virus, but the agency was awaiting results of autopsies for the exact cause of death.
A January 2018 edition of the San Quentin News featured a photo of Whitney receiving his Criminals and Gangmembers Anonymous certificate for completing courses teaching about lifestyles free of criminal activity and violence.
Warner was originally sentenced to 100 years to life in prison under the Three Strikes Law, but his second-degree murder conviction in San Mateo County was later reduced to voluntary manslaughter and he was resentenced to 55 years to life. San Mateo prosecutors in 1999 charged him with murder, alleging he shot someone “point blank” over a $10 debt while watching a boxing match inside a home where he rented a room with his mother.
Demonstrators on Monday chained themselves to a fence outside Gov. Newsom’s home, calling for the release of thousands of inmates and an end to immigration transfers because of the pandemic.
San Quentin Prison in Marin County has 500 active COVID-19, by far the hardest-hit state prison, after a disastrous decision to transfer more than 100 inmates there from a Chino prison that was already suffering an outbreak. Statewide, more than 1,800 inmates currently have tested positive for the virus, and more than 5,600 have recovered according to prison authorities.
According to data tracked by the New York Times, San Quentin has had 2,401 COVID-19 cases, second to Marion Correctional Institute in Marion, Ohio, which has 2,441 cases.
©2020 the Palo Alto Daily News (Menlo Park, Calif.)