Federal judge rules against inmates in COVID-19 lawsuit at Butner, NC
A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request from a group of Butner inmates that the prison complex immediately release inmates vulnerable to COVID-19 and set up additional procedures to make the complex safer for those remaining.
U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan said in her decision that the inmates and their attorneys did not prove Butner and Federal Bureau of Prisons officials had treated inmates with “deliberate indifference” in their efforts to try to prevent the introduction and spread of the virus that has so far contributed to the deaths of 18 inmates with pre-existing conditions and caused the death of one correctional officer.
“The court agrees with petitioners that the public interest is served by preventing unnecessary illness and death and slowing the spread of the virus,” Flanagan said in her decision. “Respondents, however, have made reasonable efforts to achieve those goals.
“Particularly in the absence of substantial evidence showing respondents were deliberately indifferent to the spread of COVID-19, the record at this stage does not present ‘extraordinary circumstances’ justifying judicial intervention in the management of FCC-Butner’s response to the virus.”
The inmates filed the class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of North Carolina on May 26. It is one of several class action suits filed against federal prisons in five states over their handling of the virus.
Butner, about 30 miles north of Raleigh, has one of the worst outbreaks among federal prisons. As of Thursday, the bureau reported 965 inmates and staff had tested positive, all but 55 of them inmates. Among the active cases are 675 inmates, most of them in the low-security prison on the complex, and 17 staff.
All four facilities at the complex have at least two reported cases.
Last week, the federal prison became the first in the country to have a confirmed COVID-19 death of an employee. Charlynn Phillips, a senior correctional officer at Butner for nearly a decade, died two weeks after testing positive on May 19. Another employee at a prison in Atlanta is suspected of dying from the virus in April, but the bureau has not confirmed that was the cause.
Butner officials said they had acted promptly when they first learned of the virus’ threat. Among the measures in place are stepped up sanitation, screening of inmates and staff, and quarantining of those who have tested positive. The inmates say the prison hasn’t done enough, and those measures haven’t prevented the spread of the virus, especially in a complex that has 400 inmates above its capacity.
Butner and other prisons are under a federal directive to release some inmates. The court filings show Butner reviewed 932 inmates for possible release. Of those, 42 have been given home confinement and nine have been placed in residential re-entry centers. Another 48 have been approved for home confinement or are awaiting approval for placement in a residential re-entry center.
Since March, 56 additional inmates have been sent home by their sentencing judges after making pleas for compassionate release.
The Winston & Strawn law firm, the ACLU and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs are representing the inmates. They have not made a decision on their next steps.
“While we are disappointed by this decision, we are weighing all options given that 19 lives have already been lost and many more remain on the line,” said Emily Harwell, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of North Carolina.