Federal judge skeptical of risk inside COVID-plagued Queens private jail
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GEO Group runs the Queens Detention Facility, New York City’s only private jail. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
By David Brand
A Brooklyn federal judge on Monday expressed skepticism about the Eighth Amendment violation claims brought by four inmates suing for their release from New York City’s only private jail, where COVID-19 cases surged before the corporate jailer abruptly stopped testing.
Attorneys representing four inmates suing GEO Group, the corporation that operates the private Queens Detention Facility, faced off against the company and the U.S. government in the first appearance related to a federal class action lawsuit claiming GEO Group has done little to stop the “rampant spread” of the coronavirus behind bars.
The number of positive COVID-19 cases in the Queens Detention Facility, operated by the corporation GEO Group under contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, quickly ballooned last month. At least 38 inmates in the 222-bed jail have tested positive for the illness, including one who tested positive twice, according to court-ordered reports..
The four plaintiffs say GEO Group knowingly housed sick inmates in the same open dorms — at times, the same bunk beds — as healthy detainees and failed to adequately clean the housing units. The inmates filed a class action lawsuit citing violations of their Eight Amendment rights on May 13.
But Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian Cogan, said he was “not impressed” with the plaintiffs’ argument that GEO Group claims 37 of 38 inmates have recovered from the illness without testing them to verify that assertion.
“We are not in a position to do daily testing in facilities where federal prisoners are housed,” Cogan said, though he did not elaborate as to why.
He also challenged the claim that GEO Group had violated the Eighth Amendment — which prohibits cruel and punishment — by exposing inmates to the coronavirus.
“Exposure does not necessarily mean that that's the end of a person's life, nor is there an absolute obligation on the part of the facility, especially when developments are happening so fast, to ensure lack of contagiousness,” Cogan said.
GEO Group does, however, need “to take reasonable measures now that it's on notice of the Eighth Amendment claims,” Cogan said.
He declined to appoint an outside party to run the prison.
“I'm certainly not inclined to, at this point, appoint a special master to run the prison, nor am I inclined to run the prison myself,” Cogan said. “That is a very radical test that would require a very strong showing of an Eighth Amendment violation, and I don't see that, at this point, in the plaintiff's case.”
Cogan said he saw no evidence that anyone had died at the GEO Group jail in Queens, an issue he said cast doubt on the risk of COVID-19.
Later in proceedings, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Ann-Elizabeth Ostrager from the firm Sullivan & Cromwell cited GEO Group’s history of covering up deaths at its facilities, but Cogan cut her off.
He set a return date for June 18.
