Butner prison steps up coronavirus testing, and cases soar
Inmate coronavirus cases soared at the federal prison complex in Butner on Monday, after what inmates’ families say was mass testing at a minimum-security camp that an inmate had fled nearly a month ago.
On Monday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported 185 cases among inmates, with all but 12 coming from a medium-security prison on the campus. That medium-security prison includes the minimum-security camp.
Four days earlier, all inmates were given swab tests for the virus, family members told The News & Observer. One of the inmates was Allen Osborne, 52, who tested positive and is now in a quarantine set up in a low-security prison, said his daughter.
“The numbers are real, and truly horrifying, not only for those incarcerated, but also the families of those who are being held there as well,” said Cynthia Osborne, who lives near Martinsville, Virginia.
Sue Allison, a bureau spokeswoman, confirmed Monday more inmates are being testing at the prison, which has seen one of the largest outbreaks among federal prisons across the country. She did not confirm whether the testing was at the camp.
On April 1, inmate Richard Cephas, 54, of Wilmington, Delaware, fled the camp. He has a medical condition that causes a drop in his white blood-cell count. While on the lam, he told the N&O he feared he would catch the virus and die. He turned himself in on April 20, and he now faces an escape charge.
The prison reported 21 staff testing positive for the virus. Those numbers have declined in recent days, as the bureau removes cases after inmates and staff are determined to have recovered. Inmate cases also dipped a week ago, but they have now surged to a new high.
Five inmates who tested positive have died; prison officials have reported in all but one of those cases that the inmates had other medical issues contributing to their deaths.
Mass testing at two state-run prisons in North Carolina has also revealed major outbreaks.
Judges order early releases
Allen Osborne was selected for early release in early April, his daughter said. But that meant he needed to be in a 14-day quarantine to make sure he didn’t have the disease when he left.
That quarantine was extended as other inmates tested positive for the disease. Now that he’s tested positive, he will have to wait at least 14 days in hopes that it clears without developing into a full-blown case. He told his daughter he was asymptomatic.
Those quarantine extensions drew a rebuke from a federal judge in a case involving another inmate. It’s one of two federal cases regarding Butner’s early-release requirements in recent weeks.
U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan of New York’s Southern District ordered the release of Butner inmate Gerard Scparta, after prison officials extended his quarantine when another inmate also in the quarantine had tested positive, Politico reported.
“The Court speaks in stark terms: this is an illogical and self-defeating policy that appears to be inconsistent with the directive of the Attorney General, ungrounded in science, and a danger to both Mr. Scparta and the public health of the community,” Nathan said in the decision.
She ruled Scparta should be allowed to quarantine himself at home.
In the Eastern District of Michigan, U.S. Senior District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow ordered the release of inmate Ronald Miller, who he found had health complications that placed him at high risk of dying from the virus. Miller had sought and failed to win a compassionate release in prior years from prison officials.
In March, Miller appealed his case to federal court and pointed to the threat the virus posed for him. The bureau opposed the appeal, telling the court the inmate hadn’t raised the outbreak in his earlier requests. Tarnow said that argument was “unfounded.”
“Continuing Miller’s incarceration under the current circumstances could be a lethal decision,” Tarnow wrote.
Allison said she could not speak on federal court cases.
Last week, the N&O reported that 12 privately-run prisons holding federal inmates were not being accounted for on the bureau’s website. Allison said the bureau is still working on updating the site to include inmate cases, but it would not track employee cases because they are not federal employees.
On Monday, state officials reported that one of those prisons, Rivers Correctional Institution in Hertford County, had 24 cases. The report, released by the state Department of Health and Human Services, did not say how many are staff versus inmates. The GEO Group, which also runs eight other prisons, said on Tuesday that eight staff and an inmate had tested positive at Rivers.