'I feel scared for my life' — Inmates face COVID-19 inside NYC's only private jail
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The Queens Detention Facility in Springfield Gardens. Google Maps
UPDATE [April 3, 2020 6:05 p.m.] — This story has been updated to include a response from GEO GROUP and new information about an inmate who has tested positive for COVID-19 at the Queens Detention Facility.
By David Brand
Inside New York City’s only private jail, the AC is on full blast, kitchen staff are under quarantine and an eight-cell restrictive housing unit is being used to separate the growing number of sick inmates from their peers in wide-open dormitories, the Eagle has learned.
An inmate and three defense attorneys say social distancing and other preventive measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus are all but impossible at the Queens Detention Facility, a 222-bed facility in an industrial zone near JFK Airport. The jail is operated by the large private prison contractor GEO Group, which contracts with the U.S. Marshal Service to detain people before their federal sentencing dates.
At least three staff members at the Queens Detention Facility have COVID-19, but no inmates had yet tested positive for the illness, GEO Group said Wednesday. Defense attorneys and an inmate who contacted the Eagle Thursday painted a grim picture of conditions and the spread of illness inside the jail, however.
“I feel scared that I’m in a f------ jail that’s disgusting and people are getting quarantined for the COVID virus,” said the inmate by phone Thursday.
“Everyone’s coughing, sneezing on top of each other,” he continued. “We’re not practicing social distancing because you cannot do social distancing in this jail because everyone is so on top of each other.”
The inmate called after his fiancee read a previous Eagle story about COVID-19 at the jail, and he asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation. He spoke by phone until the jail phone service cut off the call when time ran out.
The coronavirus has spread rapidly in the close confines of jails and prisons in New York and around the world. At least 231 inmates and 223 staff members in New York City jails had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to the Board of Correction, which oversees city jails.
Far less is known about the conditions in federal jails in New York City, however.
The federal Bureau of Prisons announced Tuesday that all federal detainees would be locked in their cells for 14 days to limit the spread of the coronavirus. A Brooklyn federal judge ruled Thursday that the warden of the Queens Detention Facility and two other federal jails must begin disclosing the number of inmates and staff with COVID-19 twice a week.
The Queens Detention Facility — which made news Thursday after a judge ordered the release of its most famous inmate, the rapper Tekashi 69 — has seven open dormitories where there are no cells, making the spread of contagious illnesses particularly challenging to contain, said the inmate who called the Eagle.
“It’s, like, really a disaster,” he said. “I feel scared for my life. It’s not like a home where I can have my own sanctuary and sanitize the facility. I’m living in a pigsty f------ jail where whatever is happening is happening.”
The Queens Detention Facility is located within zip code 11413, where 261 people had tested positive for COVID-19, according to city data mapped by ProPublica. Staff, however, do not always wear masks inside the jail and inmates are left with no personal protective equipment or cleaning supplies, the inmate said.
“They’re not giving us masks or gloves so a lot of us walk around with t-shirts on our faces,” he said. “The place is completely unsanitary, they’re not cleaning, they’re not changing our linens and they’re not doing anything to keep the virus from spreading.”
He said the jail conditions are far worse than what he has experienced at other jails and prisons, including the federal Manhattan Metropolitan Complex and New York City’s Rikers Island jails. The AC is blasting cold air and the inmates are aware that their dorm-mates are sick, he said.
“It’s an open-dorm jail, there are no cells, everyone is stacked on top of each other,” he said. “People are getting sick, people are at RHU [the restrictive housing unit] and I guess they think by putting central air on they’re killing germs, but people are getting more sick because you’re freezing in the jail.”
The RHU only fits eight people, however, according to a 2018 federal audit. Far more people are getting sick that can fit in the eight cells, the inmate said. Federal defense attorneys told the Eagle that word is traveling in email threads about the growing number of sick inmates at the Queens Detention Facility.
Inmates who staff the kitchen have experienced COVID-19 symptoms and have been quarantined in the jail, said Deirdre von Dornum, the attorney-in-charge of the Federal Defenders for the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday. The inmate who called to discuss conditions Thursday confirmed the kitchen staff quarantine.
“The original kitchen staff that is working there got quarantined because they got really sick,” he said. “They quarantined the entire kitchen dorm, one dorm of 28 people.”
The inmate said a new team of workers now staff the kitchen, but inmates are worried about the illness spreading through the plates and utensils. “How do we know they’re not infected?” he said.
“How are they preparing, what are the measures? We’re losing our minds trying to figure out what’s going on,” he said.
GEO Group, the federal Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service did not respond to a list of questions provided by the Eagle about conditions and COVID-19 in the jail. Earlier this week, the BOP, U.S. Marshals and the Department of Justice each directed questions to one another or to GEO Group.
“The health and safety of all those in our care and our employees is our utmost priority,” a GEO Group spokesperson told the Eagle Wednesday in response to questions for a previous story.
In addition to the seven dormitory-style units and the restrictive housing unit, or RHU, the two-story jail has a 24/7 triage clinic, according to a September 2018 federal Prison Rape Elimination Act audit. Inmates who need hospitalization are taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center or Elmhurst Hospital — two sites severely burdened by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The auditor noted that 135 employees worked at the complex at the time of the audit, and found that the jail “meets standards” for certification under federal law. That audit is the most recent report for the Queens Detention Facility posted on the GEO Group’s website.
Glenn Martin, a justice reform strategist who founded the organization JustLeadershipUSA and the #CLOSErikers campaign, said private federal jails, like the Queens Detention Facility, often operate outside the consciousness of reformers.
“They’re not on the radar of most advocates who are looking at the city and state, while the feds get away with opaque facilities,” Martin said. “It’s hard for advocates to know where to get a foothold. People don’t spend a lot of time pressuring the federal government and they get away with murder.”
Martin said word travels fast among detainees when someone gets sick behind bars.
“If one person has pink eye, then everyone knows they’re going to get pink eye in a week,” he said.
“I used to say there’s nothing worse than serving time in prison, but now there’s nothing worse than serving time in prison during a pandemic.”
UPDATE:
Four inmates have been tested for COVID-19 and one has been confirmed positive at the GEO Group Queens Detention Facility as of April 2, according to a letter sent by the GEO Group to attorneys in accordance with a Brooklyn judge's order .
As of Friday, all staff are getting personal protective equipment to wear on duty.
Response from a GEO Group spokesperson:
“On April 2, we received confirmation that a U.S. Marshals inmate at the Queens Detention Facility tested positive for COVID-19 (Coronavirus). The inmate was isolated when he became symptomatic and will remain in isolation until he is cleared by a medical professional to return to the general population, in accordance with the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.”
