An inmate at the federal prison at Fort Dix, NJ has died after testing positive for COVID-19. It’s the first coronavirus death of a prisoner infected at the facility after cases surged for months and lawmakers raised concerns.
Myron Crosby, 58, died Friday at a local hospital, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed to Gothamist/WNYC Monday morning. The Massachusetts native was taken in for treatment 10 days after he tested positive for the coronavirus on December 28th. The BOP said Crosby was initially placed in medical isolation and transferred to a hospital when he had trouble breathing.
Crosby, who was obese and had diabetes, had applied for compassionate release due to the pandemic and his poor health. Court records show his request was denied in October. A federal judge said Crosby—who was convicted for distributing heroin—hadn't served enough of his sentence to deter him from a “habit of criminality.”
District Judge John Woodcock Jr. said Crosby had only served 20% of his jail sentence when he applied for compassionate release. Crosby was arrested in 2017 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for his involvement in a heroin distribution scheme. A judge can grant compassionate release regardless of how much time has been served, though it's one of the factors considered in such cases.
The BOP said last month 89 men from Fort Dix had been released early and 98 were granted home confinement, about 3% of the prison’s population. The low-security facility in Burlington County houses more than 2,700 people and has had one of the worst COVID outbreaks among all federal prisons in the country.
Tess Borden, a staff attorney with the ACLU-New Jersey said Crosby’s death was “an indictment of the system that failed to keep him safe.”
“BOP must do better to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at Fort Dix, including effective vaccine distribution, and to effectively quarantine, contact trace, and provide medical care to those who have tested positive,” Borden said in an emailed statement.
While vaccinations began at the facility last week, more than half the men at the former military compound have tested positive for the virus—with at least 800 sickened earlier this month. According to the BOP, there are 73 active cases of the coronavirus among inmates and 31 among staff. Another 1,363 inmates are marked recovered after testing positive.
Both of New Jersey’s U.S. senators have sounded the alarm on conditions at the prison and demanded answers from BOP staff about why more prisoners are not allowed to serve their sentences at home.
"It is critical that you prioritize the use of your statutory authorities to grant home confinement to as many eligible people as possible," Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez wrote in a Jan. 12 letter to the Fort Dix prison warden, raising concerns that disproportionately fewer Black men are being sent home compared to white inmates.
Men inside the prison have also told Gothamist/WNYC medical care inside the facility is inadequate, particularly for those who are sick with COVID-19. Some previously said they were only given Tylenol for their COVID symptoms.
