Latest BOP numbers reveal continued increases COVID-19 cases among federal facilities, inmates and staff (and more releases to home confinement)
A little over two weeks ago, on March 26 as noted in this post, US Attorney General William Barr stated to the press that a “total of six inmates and four prison staffers have tested positive for COVID-19.” Last week, on April 3 as detailed in this post, BOP updated its numbers to then report that 91 federal inmates and 50 federal prison staffers had tested positive. Today (April 10), here is what BOP is reporting:
As of 04/10/2020, there are 318 federal inmates and 163 BOP staff who have confirmed positive test results for COVID-19 nationwide. Currently, 15 inmates and 8 staff have recovered. There have been 9 federal inmate deaths and 0 BOP staff member deaths attributed to COVID-19 disease.
Notably, the BOP is reporting that there are now twelve different federal facilities with as many or more positive COVID cases than AG Barr reported that the entire federal system had just a little over two weeks ago. In addition, the BOP page is reporting that there are now a total of “39 BOP facilities and 8 RRCs affected nationwide.”
For a little bit of good news, the number of persons being released from federal facilities into home confinement is also rising. Here is the latest BOP report on that front: “Since the release of the Attorney General’s original memo to the Bureau of Prisons on March 26, 2020 instructing us to prioritize home confinement as an appropriate response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BOP has placed an additional 886 inmates on home confinement.” BOP has also recently added to this page this link: “COVID-19 Home Confinement Information Frequently Asked Questions.”
Earlier this morning, I noted in this post a Politico piece and a Shon Hopwood commentary about some of BOP’s on-going struggles. Now I see a few more press pieces in this vein:
From ABC News, “Bureau of Prisons coronavirus response under fire: ‘Reactive,’ not ‘proactive,’ inmates, staff say: BOP has more COVID-19 cases than three states.”
From The Intercept, “Internal Prison Guard Email Contradicts Government’s Claims to Judges About Containing Coronavirus at Federal Detention Center“
From the Cleveland Scene, “The Latest out of Elkton Federal Prison, Where Horror Show Continues Apace“
From The Marshall Project, “Federal Prison Factories Kept Running as Coronavirus Spread“