Attorney: Coronavirus Cases At Tucson Prison Due To Conditions
TUCSON, AZ — Unsanitary living conditions and a lack of social distancing led to 517 prisoners in Tucson testing positive for the coronavirus earlier this week, according to a Prison Law Office attorney. The office is working with the American Civil Liberties Union to hold the Arizona Department of Corrections responsible for its prisoners.
The number of prisoners living in the Whetstone unit at the state prison complex in Tucson is just over a thousand, meaning nearly half of all inmates there have the coronavirus.
Staff attorney Corene Kendrick said she was “not surprised” upon learning about the outbreak at the Whetstone unit. Kendrick toured the prison in February and described it as a warehouse with rows upon rows of bunk beds.
“There’s about 100 to 120 men in each bay and they’re in bunk beds, and they’re just one after the other,” said Kendrick. The proximity of the bunk beds would make social distancing difficult, she noted. Prisoners were not allowed to wear face coverings until July 2, she said.
According to the corrections department’s coronavirus tracker, 747 Tucson prisoners have tested positive and three inmates have been confirmed dead from the virus. 60 have recovered so far. 607 staff members have reported positive tests across the state since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Prison Law Office and the ACLU filed an emergency motion on March 16 so that prisoners would no longer have to pay for soap or to receive medical care amid the pandemic, Kendrick said. The judge granted those requests but did not order the corrections department to form a comprehensive coronavirus response plan, which the two organizations also sought.
“How are you going to prevent outbreaks in large dormitories?” she asked. “Whetstone is not the only [unit] that they have that’s got that architecture and layout.”
The Arizona Department of Corrections told Patch it does not comment on pending litigation. Earlier this week, the department said in a statement that all infected inmates have been removed from the general population, and all prisoners will be taking their meals and medical care in their cells. Staff has also been given access to PPE and cleaning has been heightened throughout the complex.
"Those inmates who tested positive are currently being housed as a cohort together in separate areas and are receiving appropriate medical care," the corrections department said in a statement to Patch. "They will not be allowed back into the general population until they have been medically cleared."
Kendrick said she had spoken to individuals with loved ones at Whetstone and was told that coronavirus-positive prisoners were all in one dormitory together, separated from those who have not been infected.
As part of a previous settlement, Kendrick and her colleagues will be touring the unit virtually in two weeks to see what actions the prison is taking to curb the spread of the virus.
“What they need to do is they need to reduce the population,” said Kendrick. “They need to release people who are already close to their release dates, they need to get people out who are in the prison system for offenses that do not present a public safety risk. That’s the only way you can really socially distance.”
This article originally appeared on the Tucson Patch
