No Escape

There are about 95,000 inmates in Florida prisons. Last month, the number of inmates who had died from COVID-19 was 29, this month that number of deaths has surged to 70. In Florida, an estimated 11,000 inmates are now infected by the virus.

The virus continues to spread rapidly in the prison system, July and August have been the deadliest months since the start of the pandemic. Florida prisons are simply not set up to deal with treating the illness, much less stop the spread. In the prisons there is plenty of misinformation about how to protect against the highly contagious disease.

Two corrections officers also died this month from complications of COVID-19, according to corrections officials and the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents officers. The virus has even infected top-ranking officials in the department. Corrections Secretary Mark Inch and Deputy Secretary Ricky Dixon were diagnosed with the disease in early August.

Prisons hit hardest by the virus are Columbia Correctional Institution, which has had 1,317 inmate cases; Lowell Correctional Institution, which has had 909; Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, which has had 793; Graceville Correctional Facility, which has had 656; and Taylor Correctional Institution, which has had 561, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Also, 1,946 corrections workers had tested positive as of Friday August 7, 2020. At least 48 Brevard County Jail inmates tested positive for COVID-19 after results came back from the first round of widespread testing of the inmate population conducted the first week of August 2020.

At Columbia Correctional Institution, corrections workers are thoroughly cleaning the facility and enforcing a mask requirement for inmates and staff. Despite the preventive measures, inmates and workers are getting sick because not much else can be done now that COVID-19  is inside the prison and it is nearly impossible to maintain social distancing.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that Debra Bennett, a former inmate and current prisoner advocate, has organized donations of masks, gloves, bleach, face shields, soap, toilet paper and other necessities to Homestead Correctional Institution, where 302 inmates are infected. When she dropped off supplies, she noticed that some guards were not wearing masks or any other PPE. On the day of her latest delivery, two female prisoners at Homestead had died from COVID-19. Bennett knew both women well.

On the federal level, Attorney General William Barr released a memo that ordered the Federal Bureau of Prisons to identify “at-risk inmates who are non-violent and pose minimal likelihood of recidivism and who might be safer serving their sentences in home confinement.” His plan, however, was criticized because these inmates will be identified by an algorithm that the Marshall Project reports is biased toward white people. The Marshall Project reported that 100,000 prisoners have been released across the country during the duration of the pandemic.

As more inmates and workers test positive, prisoners and criminal-justice reform advocates are pleading with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to do more to address the problem. Denise Rock, executive director of the nonprofit inmate-advocacy group Florida Cares, wants DeSantis to grant the early release of certain inmates, particularly low-level nonviolent offenders and prisoners who have six months left in their sentences, to help address the spread of the virus in the system. But House Criminal Justice Chairman James Grant, R-Tampa, said in an interview that he does not think it is an “acceptable approach” to let people out of prison because of the pandemic.

During the 2020 Florida legislative session, lawmakers proposed bills to help streamline the process of releasing sick or elderly inmates, the populations most at risk of dying from the disease. Both bills went nowhere. The Orlando Sentinel reported that many of the Florida inmates who died of COVID-19 were eligible for parole.

Back in April when the prison system had just 73 cases, Governor DeSantis told reporters, “I don’t see how in a time of pandemic where people are on edge already (that) releasing felons into society would make a whole lot of sense. I think it makes everything we are doing with social distancing more difficult.”

Vicious Dogs

President Donald Trump tweeted that had protestors breached the fence outside the white house, they would “have been greeted with the most vicious dogs and most ominous weapons.” He was moved to a bunker below the white house for about an hour as fires flared up all around the white house in Washington DC. This was in reference the Birmingham Alabama civil rights injustices back in 1963 where police used high-pressure water hoses and police attack dogs on the children and adult bystanders.

Twitter issued a warning label for a tweet from Trump about the protests, stating that he had violated its rules against glorifying violence because of the historical context of his last line: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” This quote was was first used by a Miami chief of police back in 1970 who said, “There is only one way to handle looters and arsonists during a riot and that is to shoot them on sight. I’ve let the word filter down: When the looting starts the shooting starts.”

Just prior to Trump giving a speech in the Rose Garden, police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bombs on peacefully assembled protestors in front of the White House in Lafayette Park. This action came a full 25 minutes before the 7 PM curfew and with out provocation.  He said, “I am your President of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters.” Stun grenades could be heard in the distance as he spoke. Attorney General William Barr had ordered police to clear the crowd of protesters that had gathered near the White House, according to a Justice Department official, minutes ahead of President Donald Trump’s televised address from the Rose Garden.

After his speech Trump walked across the street surrounded by sycophants and military personnel. As William Barr walked behind the president. This march was so he could stand in front of Saint John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op holding a bible. It was a strange and very disorganized, hankering to the actions of third world dictators. The church was closed and Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde had had to disavow the presidents actions. She was shocked and outraged.

Trump threatened to “deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.” In a conference call to multiple state governors. “You have to dominate,” Mr. Trump told the governors, warning them that “you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks” if the National Guard were not heavily deployed in protest areas.

Trump told the Army on Monday to deploy active-duty military police to Washington, a military official said. One military official likened the deployment to Mr. Trump requesting his own “palace guard” to protect him from protesters. The Defense Department also requested 600 to 800 additional National Guard troops from Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Utah to  join the 1,200 D.C. National Guard troops, a Pentagon official said Monday night. Governors have turned down Trumps offer of military assistance.

The country has needed compassion and leadership during this time, instead, the country is faces with the president’s bitterness, combativeness and self-interest. Trump’s walk to the nearby church, which he does not typically visit, technically violated the District of Columbia’s Monday curfew. The protests against police violence come against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused more than 108,048 deaths in the U.S., with black Americans disproportionately affected.

One line of the speech writer I rather liked, “America needs creation not destruction, cooperation not contempt, security not anarchy, healing not hatred, justice not chaos.” However all too often Trump is the one seeding hatred and division. American Democracy is in deep trouble.