ISCC CONTINUES TO ENDANGER STAFF AND PRISONERS WITH QUARANTINE VIOLATIONS - NOW DIRECTLY ENDANGERING THE PUBLIC AS WELL

As described in previous posts on this site, the ISCC quarantined 40 + prisoners housed on the F3 tier on February 14, 2021. Despite the quarantine, prisoners on quarantine status - and who have not been recently tested for COVID-19 continue to work throughout the facility with the full knowledge and acquiescence of the Warden and Housing Lieutenant - the same lieutenant who recently denied in writing that anyone in the quarantined [cohort] was in fact working.

In addition to quarantined inmate workers mingling with staff and other, non-quarantined inmates throughout the day, quarantined prisoners are being transported off-site for medical treatment at a local hospital (St. Alphonse in Boise) without being tested before leaving the facility, or upon returning. Ironically, the prisoner transported off-site received a new cell partner from another unit while on quarantine status, is high risk, and still has not been tested a week later.

The quarantine status began on F3 because one inmate was said to have tested positive for COVID-19. That inmate was moved to another unit, but according to reports has not been retested to verify the infection, has not been monitored by medical staff and has no sign on his cell door indicating that he himself is under quarantine status. Further, none of the inmates with whom the inmate worked (in Food Service no less) has been quarantined because of [his] supposed contraction of the virus.

Those quarantined on F3 are allowed out of their cells only 20 minutes per day (except those allowed to go to work throughout the institution), totally precluding video visitation, and severely restricting telephone calls, showers and kiosk access. (With the law library app unavailable on tablets and only on the kiosk due to unaddressed and continuously occurring problems with the system, most prisoners are being denied any access to the courts unless they order a book which may take more than 2 weeks - at best - to receive because of the need to quarantine the books themselves after each use.)

According to the Warden in a CCTV televised speech, inmates in separate cohorts at the ISCC cannot mingle nor can the cohorts be expanded even to include prisoners living on the same tier unless approved by the Idaho State Epidemiologist. This means then that allowing these quarantined prisoners to wander about the institution with those not in their cohort, or moving from one cohort to another without testing is unlawful, regardless of the orders of administrators, especially where lives hang in the balance. Subordinate staff who are obeying unlawful orders from administrators cannot be absolved by using the traditional IDOC response ("I'm just following orders"). It didn't work at Nuremberg, it can't work here.

See more of these abuses described at my blog site: idahoprisonblog.blogspot.com

Dale Shackelford
#64613 / ISCC / Unit F
P.O. Box 70010
Boise, ID 83707
daleshackelford1@gmail.com (messages only)
idahoprisonblog.blogspot.com