Sixth Circuit panel refuses to stay district judge order to transfer vulnerable prisoners out of Elkton federal prison “through any means”
As heralded in this ACLU press release, yesterday “a three-judge panel on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously denying the Bureau of Prisons request to stay enforcement of the district court order to begin transfer and release of 837 medically-vulnerable prisoners from Elkton FCI.” Here is more from the press release:
The ACLU of Ohio and the Ohio Justice and Policy Center brought this class action on April 13, and as of last week, seven prisoners died from COVID-19.
“Today’s decision again confirms the urgent need to respond to the crisis unfolding at Elkton. Lives of prisoners, prison staff, and the community depend on swift action to move the most vulnerable people away from the COVID-19 outbreak before it is too late,” added David Carey, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Ohio. “We applaud the Sixth Circuit’s order,” added David Singleton, Executive Director of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center. “The court’s ruling is grounded in precedent and allows this litigation to proceed with the urgency that this life-and-death situation demands.”
Per the court’s order, “The district court found that Elkton’s dorm-style structure rendered it unable to implement or enforce social distancing. The COVID-19 virus, now a pandemic, is highly contagious…Older individuals or those who have certain underlying medical conditions are more likely to experience complications requiring significant medical intervention, and are more likely to die.”
The panel’s five-page ruling in this matter is available at this link, and here is a key paragraph:
Given the procedural posture of the case, we review not the merits of Petitioners’ Eighth Amendment claim, but whether the district court abused its discretion in entering the preliminary injunction. We accept the district court’s factual findings unless we find them clearly erroneous. Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a)(6). The district court found that Elkton’s dorm-style structure rendered it unable to implement or enforce social distancing. The COVID-19 virus, now a pandemic, is highly contagious, and can be transmitted by asymptomatic but infected individuals. Older individuals or those who have certain underlying medical conditions are more likely to experience complications requiring significant medical intervention, and are more likely to die. At Elkton, COVID-19 infections are rampant among inmates and staff, and numerous inmates have passed away from complications from the virus. Elkton has higher occurrences of infection than most other federal prisons. Respondents lack adequate tests to determine if inmates have COVID-19. While the district court’s findings are based on a limited evidentiary record, its “account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety.” United States v. Ables, 167 F.3d 1021, 1035 (6th Cir. 1999). Thus, at this juncture and given our deferential standard of review on motions to stay, “[t]he district court’s choice between two permissible views of the evidence cannot . . . be clearly erroneous.” Id.
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