Sources inside California Institution for Women report a COVID-19 infection; prison locks down in response

Courts fail to compel Governor Newsom to release elderly and medically vulnerable people from prison as coronavirus cases rapidly increase 

People incarcerated in the California Institution for Women (CIW) report that as of April 7th, the entire prison has been locked down as a response to a new COVID-19 infection. This comes 48 hours after sources within CIW reported that staff from the men’s prison (California Institution for Men)––where 16 positive cases of COVID-19 have already been confirmed––had been moving back and forth between both prisons without taking appropriate safety precautions. 53 California prison officials have now tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Staff are not taking it as seriously here,” said a woman incarcerated at CIW prison, who wished to remain anonymous. “They cough without covering their mouths, most wear no face coverings at all and they cluster on the yard in groups of five or six, high fiving and hugging each other.”  

On April 4th, a federal court panel denied a motion to compel prison officials to release elderly and medically vulnerable people at-risk from the coronavirus, even as confirmed cases reported by CDCR continue to rise. While ruling that releasing prisoners to protect them from COVID-19 was beyond their authority to decide, the judges admonished lawyers for the state. “The current circumstances appear to expose, in stark terms, the potential need to revisit the current population cap,” said U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller.

Another federal judge asked that lawyers for the state provide information on the 3,500 people Governor Newsom said he plans to release who are within 60 days of their parole date, and to show if that number could be potentially tripled to include incarcerated people who are within 6 months of their release date. “I don’t see any difference between 180 days and 60 days, in terms of public safety,” said U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, as reported by the L.A. Times. “I see proximate release dates as low-hanging fruit.” 

Community advocates balked at the expanded numbers, maintaining they are insufficient to meaningfully address the COVID-19 crisis. “Releasing 10,000 people is not enough,” said Amber-Rose Howard, Executive Director of Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB). “37% of the total prison population have at least one health factor that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says put them at risk for COVID-19. That’s at least 46,000 people. Governor Newsom calls himself a progressive, yet he’s using fear-based, ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric right out of the Republican playbook. People in prison are someone’s father, mother, sister or brother. Keeping them there without inadequate protection from the coronavirus is potentially a death sentence. Governor Newsom placed a moratorium on the death penalty in California because he recognized that it’s fundamentally unjust. We need him to show that kind of leadership now.”