The Effect of Coronavirus on Incarcerated Individuals in Dutchess County
Incarcerated citizens in our community are at severe risk of coronavirus. As of today, there have been 466 verified cases of infection in Dutchess County, and this devastating pandemic has made its way into our jails and prisons. According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, Chris Moreau, a Green Haven Correctional Facility corrections officer, is one of 16 corrections officers in the mid-Hudson to test positive for COVID-19 while 89 others are in isolation. Meanwhile, families of people incarcerated at the Dutchess County Jail have told us that their loved ones have started to show symptoms associated with the virus—but have not yet been tested!
Despite the concerns about a rapid spread of coronavirus throughout state prisons and county jails, New York State refuses to supply corrections officers with masks or allow them to use their own protective equipment. In a personal statement, someone incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility told us, “I haven't seen them [officers] wearing gloves and from what I hear the state denied their request to wear masks.” Why are authorities actively denying these public health necessities? The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision told the Poughkeepsie Journal that this equipment is only provided to officers when it is "medically necessary.” When is this equipment more medically necessary to protect our incarcerated population and corrections officers than right now? An incarcerated individual at Eastern Correctional Facility told us that the lack of medical equipment has meant that officers need to search inmates with the “same pair of gloves on [that] they searched the last fifteen guys with. Madness." And it is madness. The tight quarters, minimally provided healthcare, and absence of protective equipment make everyone in jails and prisons perilously vulnerable to the coronavirus epidemic.
The risk faced by incarcerated people is amplified by the lack of access to substantial news regarding the virus. Many incarcerated people haven’t even been told what the symptoms of coronavirus are or the health precautions they need to take. The coronavirus cases that do occur in facilities are also swept under the rug to protect officers’ privacy at the expense of inmates' lives. At both Green Haven and Eastern Correctional Facility, infected officers' identities are being concealed from the people incarcerated in those facilities. Prisoners who may have been exposed to coronavirus have no way of knowing, which can lead to its spread among other prisoners.
To alleviate the risk of coronavirus in jails and prisons, community members need to put pressure on the jail administration, Governor Cuomo, and the New York Commissioner of Corrections to take steps to minimize the risks to incarcerated people. These steps include releasing all people over 50, people in high-risk groups, and people close to finishing their sentences; minimizing contact between the people inside prisons and jails; supplying incarcerated people and corrections officers with essential medical equipment such as gloves, masks, and hand sanitizer; providing key information regarding coronavirus symptoms and precautions for staying healthy; testing corrections officers and incarcerated people for coronavirus and providing both populations with necessary medical treatment; and transparency about which people inside have coronavirus and who may have been in contact with them.
There are thousands of incarcerated members of our community who are at great risk from coronavirus, and we must act now to protect them. Here’s one way you can help: Sign your name to the NYCLU’s petition to Governor Cuomo demanding that he take immediate steps to protect people in New York jails and prisons.