Lompoc prison inmate dies; Cal Poly could be backup care site for Santa Barbara County

A Lompoc prison inmate has died from the coronavirus/COVID-19 as local public officials express concern and talk contingency plans related to the ongoing outbreak at the federal facility and its impact in the community.

Inmate Oliver M. Boling, 66, went into respiratory failure at the U.S. penitentiary on Sunday and was transported to an unspecified local hospital, according to a Bureau of Prisons statement released Friday night.

While at the hospital, Boling tested positive for COVID-19, and his condition declined Tuesday, leading doctors to place him on a ventilator.

He was pronounced dead on Friday, BOP officials said. The death was not mentioned during Santa Barbara County officials’ briefing late Friday afternoon.

Boling was sentenced in the District of Columbia to spend more than 71 years for sodomy and assault with a deadly weapon, prison breach, petty larceny and armed robbery. He had been in custody at USP Lompoc since May 7, 2018.

As of Friday, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department reported that the Lompoc federal prison outbreak had grown to 80 confirmed cases among inmates and 30 for staff members.

“The ongoing outbreak at the federal prison is a very serious concern to the Public Health Department,” said Van Do-Reynoso, director of the Public Health Department.

The death of an inmate pushes the countywide total to four, with the total cases reported at 373 on Friday.

Cal Poly could be backup care site

News of the death came among discussions of using an alternate care site at Cal Poly as a backup medical facility for civilians if the Lompoc federal prison outbreak fills local hospital beds.

Republican Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham sent a letter to county Public Health Department leaders about the contingency plan while awaiting Army Corps of Engineers creation of a field hospital on prison grounds.

“In these two weeks, of course, there is a chance that the local hospitals could be overrun with patients from the prison (both inmates and workers),” wrote Cunningham, whose 35th Assembly District includes the Lompoc Valley.

As of Tuesday, there were only two open Critical Care Unit beds at Lompoc Valley Medical Center, Cunningham said.

“This situation requires a contingency plan in the event the prison outbreak overwhelms the local capacity before the Army Corps of Engineers stands up the field hospital on prison grounds,” Cunningham said.

San Luis Obispo County Administrative Officer Wade Horton agreed that nonprisoner, noncritical patients from northern Santa Barbara County hospitals could use the alternative care site on the Cal Poly campus, Cunningham said.

Hospitals in San Luis Obispo County also could accept some COVID-19 patients needing critical care, the assemblyman said.

“I suggest that we adopt this as a tentative contingency plan, to be modified with appropriate input from the health administrators at our local hospitals,” he said, adding that he has talked to Lompoc hospital and Marian Regional Medical Center representatives. “They know that my office stands ready to help implement a contingency plan if the situation at the prison deteriorates further.”