WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge ruled Thursday that the D.C. Department of Corrections needs to implement various protocols to better handle the spread of Covid-19 in its jail, adding that they have shown a “deliberate indifference” to the health of the inmates.
“Plaintiffs have provided evidence that Defendants are aware of the risks that Covid-19 poses to Plaintiffs’ health and have disregarded those risks by failing to take comprehensive, timely, and proper steps to stem the spread of the virus,” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in the 40-page opinion.
The American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. and the Public Defender Service brought the class action against the DOC on behalf of 70 inmates in March, alleging that they were not receiving proper care.
The Thursday opinion determined the DOC facilities' infection rate is about 14 times higher than the rate of other D.C. residents, as of mid-May.
Issues that the court found the facilities were neglecting included medical care, social distancing, sanitation and confinement conditions.
“The court notes that defendants’ policies, and the delayed and insufficient implementation of many of those policies, has prevented plaintiffs from being able to take the preventative and precautionary steps that the larger, non-detained population has been able to take to slow the spread of Covid-19,” the opinion states.
In an order alongside the opinion, Kollar-Kotelly lays out several new protocols for the facilities to take in order to insure the inmates can remain healthy.
While the judge did not order the release of any inmates, she did call for a detailed plan for a possible reduction of inmates in the future.
Kollar-Kotelly further ordered that the facilities provide proper sanitation, including cleaning cells, providing clean sheets, clothes and daily showers for inmates.
The D.C. jail system is also required to provide inmates with medical attention within 24 hours of them reporting health issues, provide more testing, enforce social distancing guidelines and ensure that inmates still have access to make legal calls.
Steven Marcus, attorney with the Public Defender Service, said in a statement he was thrilled with the decision.
“This is a huge victory for all of the human beings still incarcerated inside the D.C. jail,” Marcus said. “These long-awaited reforms will vastly improve the conditions inside the jail, and give everyone inside, prisoners and staff alike, a greater chance at surviving this pandemic.”
Scott Michelman, legal director for the ACLU of D.C. said in a statement that the DOC did not act fast enough.
“In today’s ruling, the Court rightly focused on actual conditions inside the facility, prioritizing the concrete findings of the court’s experts and the sworn evidence from affected prisoners over the government’s vague generalizations,” he said. “The court correctly found that the District’s efforts have been too little, too late, and that judicial intervention is necessary to avert grave risks of serious illness and death.”
While many states are taking steps to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in their jail facilities, more than 46,000 inmates nationwide have tested positive for it, a 5% increase from last week, according to The Marshall Project.
A representative for the DOC did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
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