IDOC ADMINISTRATIVE CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE? YOU DECIDE
From early February, 2021, ISCC Unit F 3 had been on a schedule of prisoners being locked in their cells for purposes of "cohorting" - allowing only half the tier out in the dayroom at a time for showering, telephone, commissary ordering, [extremely limited] legal research and privacy while using the toilet. Prior to that, F 3 was locked down for more than a month - with only 20 minutes per day - per cell - allowed out due to quarantine status.
On April 5, 2021 F3 prisoners on the tier were all released into the dayroom for the day, no longer "cohorting" - that is, segregating the upper walk from the bottom. That same evening, a prisoner received at the ISCC from a Community Work Center (CWC) was moved directly from the CWC (having been charged with a disciplinary offense) into a cell on F 3.
On the morning of April 6, 2021, that newly arrived prisoner, and the prisoner who was already assigned to the (2 man) cell were moved from F 3 to the established Quarantine Unit in G Block, and the entire tier (F 3) was again locked down on quarantine status. Turns out, the newly arrived prisoner from the CWC had not been tested for COVID-19 upon arrival at the ISCC nor had he been housed upon his arrival at the ISCC in the Quarantine Unit on G Block. Despite knowing this, staff housed the prisoner on F 3 anyway. When someone the next day realized what had happened - that the inmate was not quarantined before being released into general population - the inmate was tested for COVID-19. The test results were positive - he was infected.*
Why would ISCC administrators INTENTIONALLY move a prisoner they KNEW had just arrived from a CWC to an open tier without observing clearly established protocol? Operational Memos, Post Orders and/or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and above all, common sense REQUIRE all arriving prisoners to be quarantined and cleared (negative COVID-19 test) before being released into the general prison population from quarantine status - especially where the prisoner is coming into the facility from "society". Clearly, staff failed not only to comply with existing policies, they have again endangered the entire population of the ISCC - staff and inmates alike.
Unit F 3 at ISCC houses inmates who work all over the facility - with and in contact to virtually all staff and inmates in the institution - including administrative areas. Inmates who work in the Kitchen, Maintenance, Laundry, Education, Braille (work area in H Block) and in G Block (as janitors within the quarantined areas) are all housed in F 3. F 3 also houses the (F Block) Foyer Janitor who is authorized to move about the facility, as well as to enter all (quarantined or not) tiers on F Block daily as part of his work assignment.
During past F 3 quarantines, some of these workers - most pointedly maintenance workers - were allowed to leave their cells and continue moving about the facility, interacting with other inmates housed in various areas of the prison. ISCC administrators first denied that these inmates were allowed to break the quarantine - and in written statements, said the inmates were in fact not allowed out of their cells or off the tier, and were not working (see IT'S 10:00 - DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR PRISONERS ARE? and ISCC CONTINUES TO ENDANGER STAFF AND PRISONERS WITH QUARANTINE VIOLATIONS - NOW DIRECTLY ENDANGERING THE PUBLIC AS WELL posts on this site) - despite the inmates in fact leaving the tier, and actually working. Only later did one administrator concede that the inmates had in fact been working, but said he was not aware that it was happening - though the inmate was allowed to continue to work through the end of the quarantine period AFTER the lieutenant was admittedly aware of the actions. The inmate confided in several individuals that he had been sick while working during the quarantine - but refused to disclose his illness to staff.
It's likely that F 3 will once again be on quarantine lockdown (except for those worker prisoners who are considered "above the quarantine" by administrators) for the next 2 weeks. Although administrators argue that the lockdown is not punishment (and they have a point), quarantine lockdowns are equivalent to, and in some aspects even worse than punishment status. When a 2 week lockdown is due to staff negligence (and word has it, intentional), the knowledge that the lockdown could, and should have been avoided in the first place makes it even more difficult to swallow.
In that this COVID positive (CWC) inmate was mingling with all F 3 inmates (and staff for that matter) for almost a full day before being removed to a quarantine unit - including inmate workers - every single one of these ISCC F 3 inmate workers are potential "super-spreaders" if they are allowed to work during the quarantine period. Indeed, if these workers are not a threat to the safety, security and health of every other person with whom they may have contact or close proximity, there is no need to lock down / quarantine F 3 at all. Maintenance workers in particular are the most dangerous in that they are allowed in the units - and cells - which house the most (virus) susceptible [aged and infirm] prisoners in the facility.
When the next person within 3 degrees of the ISCC dies of COVID-19, whether inmate, staff (or a staff member's friend, child or parent), consider whether ISCC administrators allowed it to happen - knowing it would happen - by intentionally and knowingly circumventing the quarantine protocols, not only in assigning the CWC inmate to F3, but by allowing potentially infected and quarantined inmates go to work in the name of "institutional convenience".
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* The CWC inmate reportedly received a COVID vaccine just 2 weeks before being transferred to ISCC. Some speculate that the vaccine might have caused a false positive on the test