STANLEY
IS A TICKING TIME BOMB- hundreds of elderly prisoners packed in
Stanley is a ticking time bomb of disease,
infection and death. There are hundreds of elderly and immune-compromised
prisoners in Stanley, those most likely to die from COVID-19. How many will be
left in cells to live or die by the strength of their immune system? There are
not enough hospital beds in this rural area to meet the needs of free people.
You can be sure hundreds of infected prisoners will not be transferred to
hospitals for treatment. It is simply not feasible even if there was adequate
bed space.
The only answer is
to implement restrictions before COVID-19 comes to Stanley because once it
does, it will be impossible to manage."
HARLAN RICHARDS
(37975) COVID-19 Stanley Update
Friday at noon Hi Peg, There are no
known COVID-19 infections in Stanley at this time. The intake unit is under
quarantine because the DOC refuses to stop inter- prison transfers. Yesterday a
prisoner was transferred in who had contact with the prison doctor in Waupun
who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. I wrote 2 blogs and will paste
them here. The first blog was written before Stanley started doing anything.
The second was written yesterday. They have now got on this 6 feet of
separation requirement which is impossible in here. We are packed together, 100
per housing unit wing. All dayroom tables seat 4 people and when they serve
meals we all line up butt to belly to get our trays. There are 3 wings in each
housing unit and they run us all through the chow line, one wing after another.
Then they go through the farce of stating that they want 6 feet of separation
when we go to school, chapel or library, yet we all walk down narrow hallways
packed together until we get to our destination where we then separate by 6
feet. Surreal!
Anyway, here are
the blogs I posted:
"H A R L A N R I C H A R D S Blog post 1 March 12,
2020/ What Happens When COVID-19 Comes
to Stanley?
I've been watching the progress of
COVID-19 and listening to the advice of health experts and making note of the
precautions being taken throughout the U.S. What I don't see is Stanley prison
taking any steps to prevent COVID-19 from coming into Stanley or a feasible action
plan to isolate infected prisoners.
The current procedure for
infected/contagious prisoners is to confine the sick prisoner and his cellmate
to the same cell for a period of time. For flu, it is 7 days. When a prisoner contracts COVID-19, how is he
going to be isolated? Lock him and his cellmate in the same cell? There are no
single cells and no way to isolate an infected prisoner. Finding one infected
prisoner will guarantee that at least 2 prisoners will contract COVID-19
because there's no way the cellmate will be able to avoid infection confined in
a cell with a sick prisoner. What happens when the cellmate is elderly or
immune-compromised? Death most likely. The easy answer for prison
administrators is to simply not test any prisoners. That way, they will have
plausible deniability and no one will ever be able to prove there was a
COVID-19 outbreak in Stanley.
There has been no procedure set up to
screen staff or visitors before entering the prison. When Stanley quarantined
prisoners for 2 weeks because of the norovirus, prisoners were still routinely
transferred in and out of Stanley. When COVID-19 comes to the prison system in
one prison, the administration's refusal to halt transfers will guarantee that
all the prisoners will be exposed. If they think it's hard to staff the prisons
now, what will happen when going to work every day will mean playing Russian
Roulette with COVID-19?
Who will get protective equipment? Staff
only? What will prisoners who are not yet infected do when they see staff
wearing protective gear while they must be daily exposed to possible death via
COVID-19?
Yet with this dire situation all but
certain to occur, school classes are still being held and all other activities
- including a scheduled spring concert - are still planned. Free world schools
are going online to cut down on transmission, sporting events are being
cancelled and all large gatherings are restricted. All it takes is one infected
person to come in here and infect one prisoner. From there it will explode in
this land-locked equivalent of a cruise ship. We are over 1500 prisoners packed
into a prison built for 750. The DOC merely redefined the prison as a
double-occupancy prison, welded another bed into each single cell and suddenly
it became a 1500 bed prison.
Stanley is a ticking time bomb of
disease, infection and death. There are hundreds of elderly and
immune-compromised prisoners in Stanley, those most likely to die from
COVID-19. How many will be left in cells to live or die by the strength of
their immune system? There are not enough hospital beds in this rural area to
meet the needs of free people. You can be sure hundreds of infected prisoners
will not be transferred to hospitals for treatment. It is simply not feasible even
if there was adequate bed space.
The only answer is
to implement restrictions before COVID-19 comes to Stanley because once it
does, it will be impossible to manage."
"H A R L A N R I C H A R D S/March 19, 2020 COVID-19
Preparedness In Stanley Prison
Last week I speculated about COVID-19
coming to Stanley. Now I'd like to tell about what preparations are being made.
On Friday March 13, 2020, the entire
prison system suspended visitors and volunteers from entering prisons.
This week, Stanley has introduced new
sanitation procedures throughout the prison: cleaning and bleaching all areas
multiple times per day and limiting how many prisoners can attend chapel or
library or school classes. However, cleaning is not what they need to do.
Prisoners are still being transferred
into Stanley every week. I used to go to the intake unit to do part of the
orientation. I sent a letter on Sunday notifying the program director that I
would no longer do that during the COVID-19 pandemic. I suggested that they
prerecord all the presentations and play them on closed-circuit television. My
suggestion was not accepted.
I also wrote to Kevin Carr, Secretary
of the DOC, regarding his COVID-19 memo he issued. Here is what I said:
"I read your memo on COVID-19 restrictions and I don't think you
went far enough. You did not mention anything about inter-prison transfers.
"The majority of people infected with
COVID-19 will carry the virus with few or no symptoms. Unless you pretest every
prisoner you transfer, you run the risk of an asymptomatic prisoner carrying
the virus from one prison to another and eventually infecting everyone in the
prison system.
It will be impossible to treat prisoners
for the virus once it gets into a prison. In Stanley, we are packed like
sardines, all cells are doubled and there is no place an infected prisoner can
be safely isolated or treated. Also, there are hundreds of prisoners here who
are over 60 and/or have compromised immune systems. A COVID-19 outbreak in
Stanley could cause many deaths. We are like a land-locked cruise ship -
self-contained and unable to avoid exposure once the virus enters the prison.
"I urge you to
suspend all prisoner transfers unless you pretest the prisoners and/or isolate
them at the receiving institution."
The current rumor
is that the incoming prisoners will be quarantined for 15 days after they arrive
in Stanley. That would be great except there is no place to put them where they
are not in direct contact with general population prisoners. The intake unit
has prisoner workers who are allowed to go to library, gym, chapel and hobby.
They will not be wearing protective gear and will be living in the intake unit
alongside of the new prisoners. The kitchen will be bringing them food at the
same time and laundry workers will come to intake to measure all the new guys
for clothing.
The procedure will reduce exposure but not
eliminate it. All it takes is one infected prisoner to introduce the virus into
the prison and since most infected people have no symptoms, their policy will
delay rather than prevent the virus from entering Stanley.
In my opinion, the people making the
decisions haven't got a clue about what they should be doing. If asked how they rate themselves, no doubt
they would echo Donald Trump and say ten out of ten. The reality is more like
how the medical expert rated Trump: "I'd give him a ten . . . on a scale
of 100."
I hope and pray that I'm healthy enough to
survive the virus if I become infected."
CHRISTOPHER
SHINGLETON (380088 1980, 39) 3/20/2020
10:41:36 PM
Virus
news SCI
As of
this point it has not reached the inside of Stanley. At least that we know of.
There was a bus that came in yesterday, 3/19/20, in which they quarantined
every one as a percussion due to an inmate having been in contact with someone
whom tested positive. I think that transfers should be halted for the time
being. I understand that this may put a backlog on the system at Dodge,
however, I also think it is a necessary percussion. I received confirmation
from the doctor here at Stanley that it is not here. I believe that this whole
thing is being fluffed up into more of a frenzy then is needed at the hands of
our government officials. I understand that people are dying, but people die
everyday. I feel bad that they are dying but we need to be real as well as
cautious. The average flu kills between 25,000-69,000 people every year, every
year thousands of people around the world die from various different things,
whether it be cancer, suicide, murder, flu, or just general old age. It happens
death is a part of life. Look back into history, when did other "drastic"
diseases come into play like this one? Look at swine flu, bird flu, SARS, west
Nile, etc. These all came into "play" during what? election times.
Once the election is over, what happens to these ailments, they disappear. I'm
just saying I think that everyone just needs to calm down. Christopher S.
Shingleton #380088
SCI
100 Corrections Dr.
Stanley, WI. 54768-6500
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