By Matt Kristoffersen
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than half of the California prison inmates who’ve died after contracting the coronavirus as of early this week had disabilities known to the state corrections department, according to a group of attorneys who are suing the state for better conditions.
The lawyers are asking a federal judge overseeing a long-running lawsuit in San Francisco to compel the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to create new policies protecting inmates during the pandemic.
The state prison system has come under fire in recent weeks for what some lawmakers call a “horribly botched” handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation counts more than 6,700 confirmed inmate cases since the outbreak began earlier this year — including over 1,300 in the last two weeks.
Thirty-nine inmates and three staff members have died from the disease, according to the corrections department.
Advocates say disabled inmates are especially vulnerable to catching the virus — and that the CDCR isn’t doing enough to protect them. Blind inmates rely on guides to move around prisons. Wheelchair users often need someone to push them or carry belongings.
One inmate at the California Institution for Men said he went 42 days straight without showering because he was housed in an area where he couldn’t easily get around. Court documents also allege that correctional officers at that facility and others have housed vulnerable disabled inmates together with prisoners actively battling COVID-19.
“This is exactly the congregate living environment that makes us most concerned,” Prison Law Office attorney Rita Lomio, who submitted the motion, said. “Obviously, we’re very alarmed.”
A picture included in the motion shows a dormitory in the California Institution for Men crowded with bunk beds. Even though some beds were left vacant as a social distancing measure, COVID-19 cases quickly added up, court documents show.
A 70-year-old, wheelchair-bound inmate in the dorm with COPD and asthma told attorneys that he was scared of catching the coronavirus. “I fear that if I got the virus, I would die, given my age and my underlying health conditions,” he said.
Corrections department spokeswoman Dana Simas said she couldn’t comment on ongoing litigation.
But she wrote in an email that the department and California Correctional Health Care Services have “worked tirelessly worked tirelessly to implement measures to protect staff, the incarcerated population, and the community at-large” — including the biggest prison population reduction in recent history.
The state projects that as many as 8,000 current inmates could be eligible for release by the end of August through the department’s efforts to make space in prisons. This is on top of the reduction of nearly 10,000 inmates since March.
Still, disabled inmate advocates are urging the state to make a detailed plan for protecting prisoners. The Tuesday motion proposes that California take steps to keep these inmates in safe, accessible living quarters — and to do so “without further delay.”
“I think it could be done,” Lomio said, “but it will take concerted effort on the part of CDCR.”
Lawyers have also asked to convene a panel of judges to consider releasing more mentally ill prisoners in an effort to curb what they call “unconstitutional” overcrowding. That case had a hearing Friday morning.
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©2020 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.)