‘I don’t want to die’: CMC inmates ask for release over handling of COVID-19 pandemic
Several inmates at the California Men’s Colony are petitioning for their release saying the prison and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation violated their Eighth Amendment protections by not providing proper COVID-19 safety measures.
Evidentiary hearings began Tuesday in the case regarding 21 CMC inmates who have filed habeas corpus petitions, alleging the state failed to follow established pandemic procedures and as a result subjected them to cruel and unusual punishment.
The first of the petitions was filed in San Luis Obispo Superior Court in October 2020, before an eventual 21 cases were consolidated into one petition in January 2021 by Judge Craig Van Rooyen. The outcome of this consolidated case will determine whether more petitions will be heard.
The inmates all are considered “high-risk” from the virus because of their old age and/or preexisting conditions, because they have contracted COVID-19 at least once while in custody and/or because they are experiencing long-COVID symptoms.
They claim, according to court documents, that the Men’s Colony and CDCR engaged in “deliberate indifference” when it came to providing a safe environment throughout the pandemic.
The California Attorney General’s Office disputes that claim, saying the two entities “responded reasonably to the risk presented by COVID-19.” The AG also claims the issues that did exist toward the beginning of the pandemic have since been fixed.
CMC is currently facing a COVID-19 outbreak among inmates, with 60 active cases and 114 new cases reported in the past 14 days, according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In total, the prison has seen 3,098 COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic — the fifth highest case count among California state prisons — and 13 deaths. There are currently 25 active cases among staff, and 27 new staff cases reported in the last 14 days.
Background of the CMC inmates’ case
The crux of this case is whether there remains a risk of severe harm to the inmates in custody at CMC, Brian McLennan, one of the attorneys for the inmates, told the Tribune.
“Not only are these breakthrough infections and the risk of long COVID present, but we just don’t know where this is going,” McLennan said. “There easily could be a mutation that is more deadly, especially to at-risk groups, especially prisoners. They just have no control. They can’t get away from each other because they’re packed in there, and that’s just not the way you treat people.”
According to court documents, the Attorney General’s Office feels the risk is no longer severe because of vaccine availability and efficacy and the general decline of COVID-19 case numbers. Data from the CDCR shows 86 percent of CMC inmates are fully vaccinated and 69 percent of CMC staff are fully vaccinated.
In an emailed statement to the Tribune, CDCR press secretary Dana Simas wrote that the department and California Health Care Services “have implemented robust measures for the safety and wellness of all those who live and work in our institutions” since the beginning of the pandemic, including personal protective equipment use among staff and inmates, mass testing of staff and inmates, proper sanitation, limited movement measures and “robust isolation and quarantine measures at all institutions.”
A 2020 report by UC Berkeley Public Health and Amend, a UC San Francisco prison research initiative, that evaluated the COVID-19 situation at CMC found population density and overcrowding to be a central issue at the prison. The report found risk for COVID-19 transmission particular high at the time in the West block of the prison, where there are community cells.
“Decarceration is the single most effective strategy to prevent and reduce transmission,” the report said. The Attorney General’s Office and CDCR claims the report is not relevant in the case because the issues raised in the report have since been addressed.
The CMC has released 33 inmates because of active COVID infections since the beginning of the pandemic, among 3,098 total positive cases since March 2. In comparison, the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco has had 2,870 cases and released 98 inmates with active COVID-19 infections.
CMC had 3,823 inmates in custody in March 2020 and 3,244 inmates in December 2021, according to the most recent data available on CDCR’s website. It is unclear what contributed to this drop, and Simas did not answer this question in her emailed response to the Tribune.
“It’s not like these people are complaining about the conditions and just wanting to get out. They’re all literally scared. And scared of dying in there,” Steve Rice, another attorney for the inmates, told the Tribune.
What happened at Tuesday’s hearing
Multiple inmates testified Tuesday about their experiences in custody during the COVID-19 pandemic. San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Barry LaBarbera wanted to keep the focus on the current conditions of the prison, so questions about the prison’s early response to the pandemic were brief.
Common threads among the inmates’ testimonies included a lack of masking by guards, especially early in the pandemic, overcrowding in dorms to the point social distancing is impossible, poor ventilation and poor hygiene.
Brian Russell, an inmate at CMC, has kept a log of COVID-19 violations he’s observed while in custody since the beginning of the pandemic. He said he began keeping the log “to exercise a record of the conditions that we’ve been in since the beginning of this pandemic in order to show the court at the time of filing that this repetition of violations of protocols continues to this day.”
He said he updates the log every quarter hour, so any violations that do occur are entered in the log promptly.
He said officers only wear masks when outside officials, like the attorney general or the inspector general, visit the prison. “When there is a question about why they’re (the officers) not wearing masks, they turn around and tell us, ‘You’re an inmate. You don’t tell us what to do.”
Russell described overcrowded dorms, with eight people housed in each sleeping pod. While each sleeping pod is six feet apart, Russell said it is impossible to social distance inside the pods. He also said there are too many people in the dorm, so it is impossible to social distant generally. And he said cleaning chemicals are being watered down.
Russell also has been infected with COVID twice while in custody at CMC — once in September 2020 and again in January 2021. He said he has to use his asthma inhaler more often to help subdue persistent coughing episodes. He said he is also struggling with running out of breath quickly.
Another inmate, Michael Grant, has cancer and was infected with COVID-19 while in custody at CMC in December 2020. Two weeks ago, his doctor recommended he see a pulmonary specialist after he tested for moderate-severe trouble breathing. In the meantime, he’s been given an inhaler to help his condition. Grant believes his lung issues are connected to his COVID-19 infection because he never had issues with breathing prior to that, he said.
Grant said inmates are given one bar of soap per week and are not given a replacement if they use up the bar before the week ends. He said masking is no longer being enforced in the chow hall, and that everyone is currently entering at the same time rather than in smaller groups.
Shai Alkebu-Lan, a 64-year-old inmate whose petition is the lead on the case, currently has COVID-19 in custody — his second time being infected with the virus. He tested positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 23 despite being fully vaccinated and boosted, and he said he has not yet received treatment for his current COVID-19 symptoms.
Alkebu-Lan said he has overheard heard prison officers say they have COVID-19 and do not care if inmates die.
He has asthma and said he hardly had to use his inhaler until he contracted the virus while in CMC’s care. Now, he said, he relies on his inhaler to breathe multiple times per day.
Two of his friends are among the inmates who have died, and he said the seeming lack of care from CMC employees has negatively affected his mental health and triggered his PTSD.
“I don’t want to die,” Alkebu-Lan said.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 9:00 AM.
