MILWAUKEE — The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, along with another 35 ACLU affiliates nationwide, made yet another legal action Wednesday regarding “the potentially catastrophic impacts of COVID-19 on prisons and the communities surrounding them.”
On Wednesday, the ACLU of Wisconsin said that it filed a Freedom of Information Request with the state. Among the information requested was:
- Estimates of COVID-19 infection and mortality rates in Department of Corrections facilities
- All communications “Regarding the risk of spreading COVID-19 to the communities surrounding Department of Corrections facilities via movement of staff and incarcerated people in and out” of facilities
- All communications in regard to “suspected or confirmed COVID-19 related infections and COVID-related deaths” among people imprisoned or working in prisons
- All complaints and grievances regarding risk of exposure to COVID-19 within the Department of Corrections.
As of Tuesday, according to the ACLU, “there have been 1,313 incarcerated people and 335 staff members who have tested positive in Bureau of Prison facilities” and “at least 30 incarcerated people have died.”
This information request has also received the support of the Council of Prison Locals, a union representing around 30,000 correctional officers.
The request also asked for communications regarding The White House’s, and thus President Trump’s knowledge of coronavirus outbreaks, potential outbreaks and preparedness in Wisconsin’s detention facilities.
“Public health experts in Wisconsin have rung multiple alarm bells about the spread of COVID-19 in our prison system. Despite those warnings, the depopulation of jails, prisons, and other detention facilities continues too slowly to avoid catastrophe,” stated ACLU of Wisconsin executive director Chris Ott.
Other action
This isn’t the first time the ACLU has taken action during the pandemic to address the situations of incarcerated people and others working in jails and prisons.
It filed a lawsuit in early April, calling for elderly people, those with pre-existing conditions and other vulnerable incarcerated people to be removed from state incarceration facilities.
Ott alleged in a statement earlier this month that “Wisconsin’s overcrowded prisons are a ticking time bomb that threatens the health of all Wisconsinites, especially people of color who are disproportionately impacted by mass incarceration.”
As of April 14, one Racine County Jail employee had recovered from COVID-19 and no inmates had been diagnosed.
Adam Rogan
Reporter
Adam does a little bit of everything with the JT, from page editing to covering homelessness to localizing state & national politics. He grew up in Racine County, believes in the Oxford comma and loves digital subscribers: journaltimes.com/subscribenow
