
By Nia Fitzhugh
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
All persons who work and live in prisons and jails across Maryland should be tested for COVID-19, just as Gov. Larry Hogan has called for increased testing at nursing homes, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland said recently.
The ACLU joined the Lifer Family Support Network (LFSN) to call on Hogan, the Public Safety and the Corrections departments to increase testing at the correctional institutions.
“Increased testing within the institutions is necessary and needed immediately,” said Martina Hazelton, LFSN co-founder. “It is a failure on the part of DOC [Department of Corrections] and the governor to make any distinction between how they are handling testing in nursing homes and how they are handling prisons.”
Hazelton explained, “Both facilities are at the highest risk because they cannot comply with social distancing mandates and both need to be given the highest level of attention. A life is a life and there is no one life that is of greater value than any other.”
A letter addressed to the governor discussed the recent announcement mandating “universal testing” in Maryland’s nursing homes. The ACLU and LFSN both argued that testing is also crucial in places of detention because “these institutions hold a medically defenseless community who are vulnerable to the most serious harms of COVID-19.”
According to the letter, the high risk circumstances that detention centers pose include restrictive congregate settings, housing in close proximity to others, the inability to remove yourself from harm’s way and dependency upon staff to meet basic needs. These circumstances can lead to hotspots for COVID-19 in the Maryland facilities, the letter said.
Sonia Kumar, senior staff attorney of the ACLU of Maryland said there are hundreds of confirmed coronavirus cases in the facilities and at least two known deaths from COVID-19 in Maryland, even without any serious testing taking place. Many U.S. states have increased testing in places of detention. At the Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio, more than 80% of the people living in the facility tested positive for the virus.
“I hear from a lot of people inside and they’re terrified and desperate to get out of their cells,” said Earl Young of the Lifer Network. “Carriers don’t always show symptoms. If you test people inside for the virus then you know who is and isn’t infected and can contain the spread.”
Young added, “There are so many places where cross-contamination can occur — during meals, delivery of medicine and supplies, and in the shower. It is impossible to do social distancing inside any institution.”
The ACLU said Maryland’s protocol is too restrictive to be of use in managing the spread of COVID-19. Currently, jail and prison staff and incarcerated individuals can only be tested off-site, so transportation is needed. Also, only those who have serious symptoms or signs of illnesses are being tested now. Staff are required to facilitate their own testing, officials explained.
Kumar complained that the state has not released any public information about the number of testing that has taken place in the DOC facilities.
“We cannot credibly claim to know the actual numbers of positive COVID-19 cases in detention when almost no one is being tested,” Kumar said. “The governor has been clear that robust testing is critical to mitigating the spread of the virus, especially for those in close quarters, and managing it over the long-term. This is especially true for Marylanders in our places of detention.”
Both the ACLU and LFSN have filed a Maryland Public Information request to have access to DOC documents showing the number of tests conducted and the department’s access to testing. The group also has asked the DOC to regularly update the public on the number of people tested and confirmed cases by facility on their website.