Confidential Report Ties Overcrowding In City Jails To COVID-19 Deaths

Crowded dormitories. No masks. A scramble to get out early.

A new Board of Correction report investigating how three men in city jails died from COVID-19 last April offers a window into what it was like behind bars early in the pandemic. Although hundreds of people have contracted COVID-19 while in Department of Correction custody, these are the only three deaths that have been reported.

The city’s Department of Correction, district attorneys, and other stakeholders worked together to reduce the jail population by more than 1,500 people between mid-March and late April of 2020, in part by offering early release to hundreds of people. But in the weeks leading up to the three deaths cited in the report, dormitory-style housing at the Bronx’s Vernon C. Bain Center and Rikers Island remained overcrowded, and the eligibility requirements and process for getting released were often unclear. At the time, there was also conflicting guidance on mask-wearing, so face coverings were not offered to people in non-medical units.

Alice Fontier, managing director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, which provided the draft report to WNYC/Gothamist, says not enough has changed since then in terms of COVID-19 safety and precautions.

“The conditions in the city jails in March 2020 are the conditions of city jails in March of 2021, despite a year’s worth of knowledge about this pandemic, how it spreads, how people get sick and who it kills,” said Fontier.

In its draft report on the three deaths, which was completed in December, the BOC said density in jail dormitories was still “alarmingly high.” As of February 26th, more than two-thirds of the people in city jails were staying in a cell or dorm that was at 50% of its capacity or more, according to the latest COVID-19 update from the Board of Correction.

Read More: "Nobody Is Safe Here": Inmates Live In Fear As Coronavirus Spreads Through NY Jails

Early last March, the Department of Correction issued an action plan stating that it would ensure at least one empty bed between inmates to curb the spread of COVID-19. But as the BOC report makes clear, that wasn’t initially possible due to overcrowding, and it still isn’t feasible in many jail dorms now.

Last March and into April, two of the men who died were being held in 50-bed dorms at the Vernon C. Bain Center, also known as “The Boat.” Those living areas were consistently at 78% to 100% capacity, according to the report. The third man was held in a 39-bed medical unit at Rikers Island—also continuously more than half full—where he could be treated for sleep apnea and asthma.

All three men had pre-existing medical conditions, and at least two might have been eligible for early release (one was awaiting a transfer to prison upstate) but there was a “lack of clear eligibility criteria and transparent mechanisms” for obtaining it, according to the BOC report.

Two of the men were not told about their positive coronavirus test results for several days—an alarming fact given that hundreds of people in jail custody and more than 1,400 jail staff ultimately contracted COVID-19 last spring. The family and attorney of one inmate weren’t notified when he was ultimately hospitalized.

The second wave of COVID-19 has resulted in fewer infections in city jails and no reported inmate deaths. But inmates and staff are still at risk, public defenders say, and deaths continue to occur at state prisons.

Not all inmates and jail staff wear masks, and people still have to remove their masks when they eat in close quarters, Fontier’s client at Rikers said in a lawsuit filed in February. The lawsuit aims to get the state to prioritize vaccination for all people who are incarcerated. Social distancing is also still a challenge, he said.

READ MORE: NY Prisons Start Vaccinating Inmates With Pre-Existing Conditions

A spokesperson for the Department of Correction said the agency would not review the BOC report until it was finalized. DOC’s website says it will keep an empty bed between each person “where possible.”

In a statement, the spokesperson added, "From comprehensive testing, to social distancing in our facilities, we have taken every possible measure to keep all those who work and live in our jails safe throughout the pandemic. These measures have proved effective: transmission within our jails is, and has remained, lower than the citywide average."

He also noted that New York City’s jail system was the first in the state to start vaccinating people in its custody. But city jails still have to follow state guidance and vaccinate one priority group at a time, rather than offering shots to their entire incarcerated populations.

Although the city’s jailed population dipped last spring, as of late February there were 5,534 people in city jails, more than there were in mid-March of last year.