Sunday, May 24, 2020

PRISON PANDEMIC UPDATE #19


Tuesday, May 19, 2020, 9:37 p.m. Tomoka C. I., Daytona Beach, FL

Good news! I announced this earlier today, the warden said dorm K-1 was off ''recovery status,'' and returned to ''open population,'' which means we can walk to the chow hall and canteen, not confined inside the dorm. Some other dorms are still under quarantine. We still wear our masks.

After the noon count they announced, ''Chow! Chow!'' We walked to the chow hall--oh no! Peanut butter sandwiches! Oh well. The walk to and from the chow hall in the bright sunlight was nice.

I talked with my mother at the Hawthorne Rehab this afternoon. She said the rehab therapy for her broken hip was very tiring, the two workers were thorough, challenging, she doesn't look forward to it, but she's determined to regain her strength and return home.

As for myself, I feel better than ever, no symptoms, and am grateful to God for my uneventful recovery. No one really knows if or how long any immunity to the coronavirus lasts, but I'm hoping for a long time. No one knows what they plan for us next, if we'll be moved elsewhere, or stay here.

It's almost master count time, and I am tired. As I tell people, ''I'm too old for this.'' Good night, be safe, and stay healthy. Summaries of other prison virus articles follow.

NEWS CLIPS...from USA TODAY---

Little Rock, Arkansas--Forty-eight inmates have tested positive for the new coronavirus at the Randall L. Williams Unit in Pine Bluff, state officials say, making it the second state prison where the virus has been reported among prisoners.

Greeley, Colorado--The Weld County Jail violated inmates' constitutional rights in the way it handed the coronavirus, a judge ruled. Judge Phillip Brimmer found Monday that Sheriff Steve Reams failed to take adequate measures to protect inmates and that they are entitled to a limited preliminary injunction so the jail can ''ameliorate those conditions,'' the Greeley Tribune reports.

Hartford, Connecticut--A federal judge is set to hear arguments this week in a lawsuit that attempts to force the state to take new measures to protect prison inmates from the coronavirus. U. S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton will hold the hearing by video conferencing Friday.

Raleigh, North Carolina--hundreds of state prisoners with COVID--19 are now deemed to have recovered based on government health guidelines.

Central Falls, Rhode Island--The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit Friday seeking the release of dozens of detainees at a federal lockup where it says the virus is spreading ''uncontrollably.'' The number of detainees who have tested positive has more than doubled in recent days at the Wyatt Detention Center, the civil rights group's Rhode Island chapter said.

Houston, Texas--The state will begin widespread coronavirus testing in prisons where at least 30 people have died, officials announced Tuesday. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott also said he tested negative for the virus after his visit last week to the White House came on the same day that a valet to President Donald Trump tested positive.

Glenville, West Virginia--five inmates at a federal prison have tested positive after a big transfer of prisoners led to the first case at the lockup.

Columbus, Ohio--The state has the country's highest per-prisoner COVID-19 case rate and the fifth-highest prisoner death rate, according to an analysis of state prison cases by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom dedicated to the U. S. criminal justice system.

Charlie

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