Latest BOP data has another big spike in COVID cases, and ugly press reports and lawsuits now part of story

Late yesterday, the BOP’s COVID-19 Update page reported, as of April 5, 138 federal inmates and 59 federal prison staffers had tested positive for the coronavirus.  As of the early evening of April 6, that page now reports 196 inmates and 63 staffers positive for COVID-19.  Here is where these latest BOP numbers come from:

(Inmate) 04/06/2020 – USP Atlanta (10); FCI Bennettsville; MDC Brooklyn (2); FCI Butner Low (14); FMC Butner; FCI Butner Medium I (39); USP Canaan; FMC Carswell; FCI Cumberland; FCI Danbury (22); FCI Elkton (8); FCI Forrest City Low (9); FCI Forrest City Medium (2); USP Lompoc (23); FCI Milan (3); MCC New York (4); FCI Oakdale I (22); FCI Otisville; FCI Yazoo City Low (2); FCI Yazoo City Medium (6); USP Yazoo City (14); RRC Brooklyn, NY (4); RRC Chicago, IL; RRC New Orleans, LA; RRC Phoenix, AZ; RRC St Louis, MO; RRC Wilmington, DE; FLM Guam.

(Staff) 04/06/2020 – Atlanta, GA (3); Brooklyn, NY (6); Butner, NC; Waymart (Canaan), PA; Chicago, IL (3); Danbury, CT (7); Lisbon (Elkton), OH; Forrest City, AR Low (2); Forrest City, AR Medium (2); Fort Dix, NJ; Leavenworth, KS; Lompoc, CA (5); Milan, MI; New York, NY (6); Oakdale, LA (4); Otisville, NY (3); Ray Brook, NY (6); Talladega, AL (3); Tucson, AZ; Yazoo, MS Low (2); Yazoo, MS Medium; Central Office, Washington, DC; Grand Prairie Office Complex, Grand Prairie, TX; Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta, GA.

As this list grows, so do media stories (and the first big lawsuit) about the problems created by COVID for federal prisons:

From the Wall Street Journal, “Coronavirus Inside Oakdale Prison: ‘Our Sentences Have Turned Into Death Sentences’“

From the News & Observer, “Coronavirus cases surge at Butner prison complex in NC, county official reports“

From Canton Rep, “Coronavirus: DeWine sending National Guard to Elkton federal prison east of Canton after 3 deaths“

And from ABC News, “ACLU seeks release of federal prison inmates where 5 died: A new class-action lawsuit demands the release of hundreds of high-risk inmates at a federal prison in Louisiana where the coronavirus has claimed the lives of five prisoners and infected nearly two dozen others”