We know that seven inmates have
tested positive.
As of yesterday 365 prisoners
and 99 staff
at that facility have tested positive.
So far 230 detainees have tested positive.
Three inmates have died.
You have all these people locked up
and they're sitting ducks.
It'll spread like wildfire
through these settings.
The COVID-19 or the coronavirus is
pretty scary because it’s new
and it’s nothing that
we’ve really prepared for.
In the early stages of
the COVID-19 pandemic,
experts warned how dangerous it would
be for prisons in the U.S.,
where nearly 2.3 million
people are locked up,
the most in the world.
Many of those are behind bars
because they can’t afford bail,
they violated parole or
they’re awaiting trial.
Over the last month, I spoke regularly
with dozens of inmates
and their family members
who have been anxiously
bracing for outbreaks
in their prisons,
and urging authorities to respond.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you.
My name is Keziah, Keziah Norman,
and unfortunately
my husband was incarcerated.
So when this COVID-19 situation hit,
I was actually watching it
unfold in China and I was like,
hey this seems like something
that’s really serious.
By the time I first spoke with Keziah,
there were already more than 500
reported deaths in the U.S.
from coronavirus, with new cases
being confirmed in
jails and prisons every day.
I mean something has to be done
because are we going to
literally sit around and watch
millions of people’s family members
die right before our eyes
and act like this doesn't exist?
Whenever Tavariel calls you,
patch me in again
just for a few minutes for a quick update?
Hey Tavariel, how are you?
I’m OK, Michelle, how you doing?
How are things going in there?
This is a new virus to the human species,
so everyone's vulnerable.
So it's really a matter of exposure.
It's not the population, per se,
that's the problem.
It's the setting that they're in.
I've been to Rikers Island.
I've seen what it's like.
You cannot contain this in Rikers Island.
You cannot contain this in
most correctional facilities.
The virus is indeed spreading
inside Rikers Island,
the New York City jail with notoriously
poor living conditions.
The vast majority of people there are
detainees who have not yet gone to trial.
Over the last 12 days,
the number of confirmed cases there
ballooned from one to 200.
I talked to Marlene Aloe,
whose son is inside.
I have a son who has
an acute lymphoma leukemia
cancer, who is currently
incarcerated in Rikers
Island at the North Infirmary Command.
He’s a pre-trial detainee, awaiting trial.
I’ve been watching the news literally
from morning to night because
I want to know what's going on.
And being that my son has
a low immune system
because of his cancer
and he goes to the hospital
every 30 days to receive chemo,
God forbid if he were to get it,
he wouldn't stand a chance.
His body cannot fight it off.
Half of people in prisons and jails
in the U.S. have
at least one chronic condition.
The problem is they're all
going to get infected
at once, because it'll spread like wildfire
through these settings.
So the first thing we can do to
prevent this is to get
as many people as you can
out of those facilities.
Across the country, some officials are
announcing they’ll release
a limited number of inmates.
But the releases are happening slowly,
and mostly on a case-by-case basis.
I would like my son released right now,
and they can even put a
bracelet on his leg
if he’s gotta stay in the house,
and then when this is over he can go back.
Because there's no way,
with the conditions of the jail
and everybody is in such close
proximity of each other,
it's like a death sentence in there.
We have a very narrow window of
opportunity right now
to let some people out.
And frankly, I don't think we can do it.
So then the next step is,
how do you prevent it from coming in?
Some states are refusing to
reduce their inmate population,
including Arizona.
So jail staff there,
like nurse Brittany Quinn,
are focused on making sure
no incoming prisoners have the virus.
We put into protocol that
we were going to screen
everybody prior to entering the facility.
Once we had the protocols put into place,
we had an officer or a nurse,
if the nurse was on staff,
go out in proper PPE.
So I wear gloves and an N95 mask,
and do a corona screening.
As I’m sure that you know, it has a long
incubation period, and people can also be
asymptomatic, so
are you worried that these standards
might not be enough to keep
something like this out of the jail?
Yea.
Once it really gets into the walls of the jail,
we're not really
going to be able to stop it.
We’re going to have to quarantine them all.
Because one pod of 50 people
shares air supply.
Curt Bagby is the undersheriff at the jail where Brittany works.
Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Jails aren't really built to separate people
with any type of airborne,
bloodborne pathogen
or whatever.
You know, you could be holding
thousands of people
and they depend on us for their safety
and their well being and all that.
The COVID-19, or the coronavirus,
is something that is
pretty scary because it's new and
it's nothing that we’ve really prepared for.
Hello.
Hey, how’s it going?
I think he's handling it well,
but I do feel that he is really depressed.
And when I’m talking to him on the phone,
I’m not letting him know that
I fear for him,
that I’m scared.
You going to be all right in there?
Yea.
Oh, I miss you so much.
Be safe.
I am currently in New York City.
The amount of sirens that you hear,
they’re going off every maybe 10 minutes.
And the hospitals are packing up.
You know, it's the type of thing
where you would want to say OK,
let's just hope and pray.
But it’s like, this is kinda
closing in on you.
Can you see me?
No, not yet.
It’s March 30, and more rural communities
are reporting confirmed COVID-19 cases.
I’m checking back in with Brittany,
the nurse at La Paz County Jail.
She’s not feeling well and
is worried she may have the virus.
I went into the urgent care on Friday.
The nurse practitioner came in
and he was like, nurse to nurse,
I’m pretty sure you have it.
He’s like, but we can't test you.
Because apparently our hospital right now
isn’t testing anybody that isn’t hospitalized
or a hospital employee.
And they told you you can’t get tested
even though you yourself
are a health care worker?
Correct.
And the fact that they denied me
knowing what my occupation was,
was a little disturbing.
But I feel like this virus is
really just a beast.
They’ve started limiting
our shifts to where
it’s not a fully manned shift anymore.
They’re basically running with the
minimum amount of officers
that they can to safely
run the jail to minimize exposure.
Italy warned us, talking about New York,
and we didn't listen.
And I truly feel that in a couple weeks
we’re going to say that you guys warned us
and we didn't listen.
The virus is also hitting
prison guards and staff.
Several corrections unions have
filed lawsuits against state and
local governments for
failing to protect them.
The PPE is not offered to
the work staff who work there daily.
Not even to our members
who have direct contact
with inmates who test positive
for COVID-19.
It is early Saturday morning and
I’m about to give Marlene Aloe a call.
I got a text from her last night asking me
to give her a call and that
she had heard from David,
and that it wasn’t good .
(phone ringing)
Hi, how are you?
I’m good, Marlene. How are you doing?
I’m not good today,
I’m not good today.
They took David out of
Rikers Island last night.
They took David out of NIC,
they brought him to Manhattan,
to the Tombs.
He has shortness of breath,
he has pains in his chest.
They don’t have his medication there,
he said he’s around everybody
that has the coronavirus.
They’re gonna kill my son in there,
they’re gonna kill my son,
they’re gonna kill him.
He said at one part of the building that
all the people have the coronavirus,
and the guards are working over there
and they’re coming to him,
giving him food, with no masks,
no gloves, no nothing.
David is one of thousands of inmates
with high-risk health issues
hoping for temporary release or
a transfer to home confinement
during the pandemic.
Their situations are getting more urgent
as outbreaks and deaths
increase in correctional facilities
across the country.
I know that a lot of people
are gonna get sick
and a lot of people are gonna die.
We didn't act quick enough to prevent all
these infections happening at once.
COVID-19 gives us the
opportunity to expose
what's really been going on.