‘He shouldn’t have had to die’: COVID-19 infects half of Wisconsin inmates, five times the overall state rate | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Vanessa Swales, Wisconsin Watch
February 13, 2021
CalvinJohnson spent his final weeks at Prairie du Chien Correctional Institutionwracked in pandemic anxiety, a former cellmate recalled. He closely trackedCOVID-19’s spread in and outside of the medium-security state prison— eyeing infection counts in surrounding Crawford County and acrossWisconsin.
Johnson,who grew up in Milwaukee and was affectionately called “Chicken,” wore a maskat all times in the cramped cell that he shared with three others, saidRandy Forsterling, one of the cellmates. Johnson, 52, lived with high bloodpressure, asthma and the sense that COVID-19 would kill him.
“Iwas given 13 years for my crime. I was not given a death sentence,” Johnson,who was convicted of armed robbery in 2016, wrote in an Oct. 19 request tomodify his sentence for health reasons.
MilwaukeeCounty Circuit Judge Milton Childs denied the request about a week later.
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Johnson’shealth declined over the next month, and he died at a La Crosse County hospitalon Nov. 30. The cause: complications from COVID-19.
ThePrairie du Chien prison was designed to hold 326 inmates, but about 500 packedthe prison  during Johnson’s final weekalive. The facility has reported 413 inmate infections during the pandemic.
Half of inmates infected
Thecoronavirus has run rampant across Wisconsin’s prisons, infecting at least 2,153 staff members at adult institutions and 10,786 inmates throughout the pandemic — morethan half of the inmate population. The state has detected infections amonginmates at a rate more than five times higher than in the general population.At least 25 inmates have died, according to DOC data. John Beard, an agencyspokesman, declined to say whether any prison staff had died of the virus.
Advocatesfear more inmates have died; the agency hasn’t updated its COVID-19 death tollsince Jan. 7, and county medical examiners say determining a cause of death cansometimes take weeks or months.
WisconsinWatch interviewed more than a dozen inmates at seven facilities for this story.Inmates at five prisons said they witnessed times in which infected inmatesweren’t separated from others. And chronic overcrowding remains a major factordriving prison outbreaks in Wisconsin and other states, inmates and expertssay.
“Ifyou wanted to reduce the number of people in prisons — whether prisonersor staff — who get sick and die of COVID, the most effective thing youcould do is cut the numbers (of inmates),” said David Fathi, director of theAmerican Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project.
Wisconsinhas trimmed its prison population by about 3,400 since early March 2020— now at its lowest point in more
than two decades. Revocations — violations of post-releasesupervision — are trending down, Beard said, meaning fewer people areserving time for that reason. Still, the state’s 19,858 inmates as of Jan. 29 are filling facilities designed tohold only 17,609.
Inmateadvocates say Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, could alleviate crowding byissuing reprieves or commuting the sentences of medically vulnerable inmates.He has declined to wield those powers despite previously setting a goal to cutthe state prison population in half.
Ina Dec. 1 media briefing, Evers dismissed suggestions thatovercrowding made inmates significantly more vulnerable to COVID-19. Moreimportant, he said, was to halt the virus outside of prisons and block itspathways in.
“It’sthe issue of what’s going on in the community and in the state of Wisconsin —and in our country — that this virus is so prevalent,” he told reporters.“If we had 5% of the prisoners left in an institution, they’d still be gettingCOVID-19.”
Inmateinfection rates have slowed in recent weeks, and vaccines offer additionalhope. But inmates fear additional outbreaks, and families are mourning losses.
“Heshouldn’t have had to die like that,” Milwaukee resident Sherita Johnson saidof her uncle. “Calvin wanted to stay well enough to come home, and he nevermade it.”
Dangerous by design
Prisonsnationwide have struggled to contain the coronavirus. Compared to Wisconsin,most states have confirmed more COVID-19 deaths among inmates when adjusted forpopulation. But Wisconsin ranked 10th in infection rates as of Feb. 5,according to tracking by The Associated Press and TheMarshall Project.
Manyof Wisconsin’s prisons are poorly designed to keep viruses from spreading.Inmates in some facilities sleep in barrack-like arrangements and cells arecramped. Inmates share toilets, showers and sinks. Prisoners say air typicallyflows poorly through the facilities — conditions common in prisons
nationwidethat allow aerosols to remain in the air.
“It’snot that this virus is behaving differently in correctional systems,” said Dr.Lisa Puglisi, an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine and expert inpost-incarceration care. “It is that the (correctional) systems can’t handlethe virus.”
Wisconsin’sDOC has adopted policies in line with many of U.S. Centersfor Disease Control recommendations. The state rolled out mass testingfollowing a slow start, developed quarantine protocols, mandated mask-wearingamong staff and issued at least three cloth masks to inmates free of charge.
“Thecurrent state of COVID-19 in our institutions is drastically different than itwas in the fall,” Beard wrote in an email. “I believe the work of ourinstitution leadership and staff in stemming the tide of this virus, even iftemporarily, should be recognized.”
ButPrince Rashada, a 52-year-old inmate at Fox Lake Correctional Institution, wasamong seven   inmates at three prisonswho told Wisconsin Watch that soap and sanitizer remained hard to access— or that sanitation was broadly lacking. He was also among eight inmatesat five prisons who said infected inmates weren’t always isolated from others.
“The fact remains that they put our lives at risk,” Rashada said in a phone interview. “I fear for my life, and I feel I’m going to die in prison.”
Withmore than 1,200 inmates, the Fox Lake prison is about 25% overcapacity. Nearly900 inmates there have tested positive for COVID-19, and at least two havedied.
Rashdasaid he began experiencing COVID-19 symptoms last April but was refusedtesting; Fox Lake tested no more than a handful of inmates until mass testingbegan in June, according to DOC data. Rashada later tested positive forCOVID-19 in November and now suffers headaches, kidney trouble, lost appetiteand fatigue, according to Faithe Wills, his fiancé.
Transfers pose risk
Wisconsinhas struggled for years to
fully staff prisons, and the pandemic has worsened that challenge.
Citingunderstaffing at Waupun Correctional, DOC in December announced it would closea cell block at the 170-year-old maximum-security institution — transferringabout 220 inmates to medium security institutions through the end of February.The Waupun prison still held 1,007 inmates as of Jan. 29, exceeding capacity by14%.
Correctionsofficials have sought to reduce the risk that transfers will fuel outbreaks.That includes suspending movement this fall between DOC institutionsexperiencing outbreaks, Beard said. The agency says inmates are tested andquarantined before moving between DOC institutions — or before arrivingfrom a county jail. The policy calls for another quarantine upon arrival.
Butinmate Matthew Schumacher says he went untested in December before moving fromColumbia Correctional to Oshkosh Correctional, where he says he was placed inbarracks-style housing and wasn’t tested for two weeks. That test came backnegative, and Schumacher says he hasn’t felt COVID-19 symptoms.
Morethan 1,800 inmates pack the Oshkosh prison, exceeding its capacity by 23%. Atleast 1,030 Oshkosh inmates have been infected — most of them beforeSchumacher’s transfer.
Threeinmates at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution (35% overcapacity) told the Wisconsin State
Journalthat they weren’t separated from infected cellmates during a September outbreak— details that three unnamed staffers confirmed. Those inmates also latertested positive, the newspaper reported. The prison in Sheboygan County hasreported one death and nearly 900 COVID-19 total infections.
Advocates seek Evers action
Severalfactors are driving DOC’s recent population dip, including the agency’s
limits on taking inmates from county jails during the pandemic. Additionally, a preexisting EarnedRelease Program allowed more than 2,100 nonviolent offenders over the past yearto pursue substance abuse treatment in lieu of prison.
Inmates’rights advocates want more action from Evers, who campaigned on an
open-ended promise to cut the state prison population by 50%. But he hasn’tused his powers during the pandemic to shorten sentences or issue reprieves— a rarely used tool to temporarily suspend sentences and reinstate themlater.
Evers’administration also opposed an ACLU lawsuit — dismissed last April — to force releases of elderlyand medically vulnerable inmates.
“Whenthe pandemic hit, we were sure this would provide a really great avenue for thegovernor to release people,” said Peggy West-Schroder, a coordinator forMilwaukee-based Ex-incarcerated People Organizing. “But we haven’t really seenany movement at all on the governor’s behalf.”
When to vaccinate inmates?
Vaccinationscould slow the spread of COVID-19 in prisons.
Wisconsinis currently vaccinating people 65 and older. Corrections officials are alsoamong those currently eligible. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services on Jan. 26 announced that people in congregate livingsettings — including jails and prisons — would be included in the next phase of eligibility, tentativelybeginning on March 1.
Ina Feb. 6 email, Schumacher reported that vaccinations for inmates 65 and olderhad already begun for Oshkosh Correctional. And 69-year-old inmate RonSchilling told Wisconsin Watch on Monday that a Kettle Moraine Correctionalnurse was asking older inmates whether they want vaccines.
Republicanlawmakers oppose prioritizing other inmates. Legislation that
cleared a Senate committee last month would bar Wisconsin fromprioritizing an inmate before that person would be eligible as a member of thegeneral public.
“Ahealthy 30-year-old three-time murderer would be entitled to receive a vaccinebefore other at-risk individuals,” Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said lastmonth at a hearing.
Puglisi,the Yale professor, said despite the vast number of inmates who have alreadyhad COVID-19, reducing populations until vaccinations are more widespread wouldbe wise as researchers still
don’t know the frequency of reinfection.
Butvaccines will arrive too late for Calvin Johnson. Loved ones remember him as ajokester who never forgot birthdays — even sending cards from prison.
Oldersister Jereldine Johnson said she hopes that sharing Calvin’s story willtrigger stronger protections for inmates.
“Ijust don’t want my brother to die in vain,” she said.
Wisconsin Watch investigations editor Jim Malewitz
contributed to this report. Wisconsin Watch (wisconsinwatch.org)
collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works
created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not
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