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After outbreaks in big East Texas prisons, TDCJ decided to take a few dozen prisoners w/COVID and move them a few hrs away to Brazoria county - without telling local officials. They didn’t find out until I called them yesterday. Spoiler: They’re not happy. THREAD:
Over the weekend I got information that sick prisoners from Telford (near Texarkana) had been moved to Stringfellow, in Brazoria County about 5 hours away. A TDCJ spokesman confirmed & said it was to bring them closer to medical resources.
A few days later I saw paperwork indicating that a few dozen prisoners from Beto - the site of the biggest outbreak, in Anderson County - had been moved to units in Brazoria County as well. TDCJ officials confirmed today, saying ~100 sick prisoners total have been moved there.
The spokesman was not able to clarify if this is generally the plan moving forward, and didn't know whether prisoners from other units with infections - like the women at Murray or the men at Wynne - would be moved as well.
That move comes after repeated clashes with local officials in Palestine, who have complained to the local paper about the agency’s handling of the outbreak. Eventually, they were told the prisoners would be moved to Huntsville area:https://www.palestineherald.com/covid-19/inmates-with-covid-19-being-transferred-out-of-county/article_eeb877ec-7f33-11ea-a830-4f1ca59bb5ac.html …
But instead, they were moved to Rosharon, and allegedly no one told local officials. The agency spokesman said he wasn't sure why people believed the transfers were headed for Huntsville.
“You were my tip that it was happening,” Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta told me today. “They did not tell us. I have not talked to anybody from TDCJ. They have not had the courtesy to touch base with me, my health director or anybody in emergency management here."
“What they’re doing is just spreading it into our population,” he said. “They have to have healthcare, I get that - but don’t concentrate them here.”
“This has been handled so poorly that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice needs new leadership,” Sebesta told me, adding that he’ll be putting out more information later today. Here’s more of his comment:pic.twitter.com/1dsAF6VXx1
The agency spokesman said he was not aware of these criticisms from Brazoria, and pointed out that the prisoners been moved to be closer to medical resources; nearby UTMB Galveston has a couple dozen beds for prisoners: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/04/16/infected-incarcerated-and-coming-to-an-icu-near-you …
If they stayed where they were, they’d risk overrunning the local hospitals in Bowie and Anderson counties. But it seemed to me v counterintuitive to take sick people in medical isolation and move them halfway across the state. So I looked into it.
Some other places are doing similar things, transferring people to consolidate sick cases in one location (though it's not clear if that's TDCJ's overall plan or not).https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/coronavirus/article_68cd8eb0-752e-11ea-922d-4b48c675e1eb.html …
Also, transfers of COVID-positive inmates happened in Michigan and sparked some controversy:https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/04/15/adrian-prison-develops-first-covid-19-cases-after-inmate-transfers/5135917002/ …
But to figure out if this is generally a good idea I called some experts. One suggested this did not comport with CDC guidelines about moving sick people. Another raised concerns about whether transferring sick people could make them sicker.https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/correction-detention/guidance-correctional-detention.html#ConfirmedvsSuspected …
In relevant part, the CDC guidelines say: "Restrict cases from leaving the facility while under medical iso. precautions, unless released from custody or if a transfer is necessary for medical care, infection control, lack of medical iso. space, or extenuating security concerns"
So the question is whether these transfers are considered necessary for medical care. Some experts say it probably is, others say it's just unclear without more information.
One conceded it’s just really unclear what the best solution is here. “It’s a tough question,” said Dr. Marc Stern. “What is the right thing to do? There is no THE right.”
Also: For more local coverage of this issue, follow @MaddyMcCarty who is working on a story for the paper there in Brazoria.
And s/o to @yvonnemintz for putting in a good word for me w/local officials.
Update: Here's the local paper's article on it.http://thefacts.com/article_6feee541-d623-563a-95bf-dd579162719d.html …
Annnd here's the letter from Brazoria County to the governor:pic.twitter.com/lK1IwcsIL8
ANOTHER update: Speaker Bonnen is not pleased. He told @sam_kett he delivered Sebesta's letter to the governor himself.
“I don’t want any more COVID-positive inmates transferred to Brazoria County,” Bonnen said.https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/121-COVID-positive-inmates-moved-to-two-Brazoria-15208843.php …
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