By: Mr. Jermaine Glenn, incarcerated in MDOC Kinross Correctional Facility
Never in my wildest nightmares have I imagined or experienced anything like the Covid-19 pandemic. It takes us back to the influenza pandemic in 1918 when we lost 50 – 100 million people globally and roughly 675,000 lives nationally. That was over a 100 years ago and somehow we still find ourselves ill prepared for a global health crisis.
It literally feels like a television show or movie, but there are no actors. Hospital are flooded with citizens, nurses are dying from the lack of PPE’s, PEOPLE are testing positive by the minute and dying by the second. Dr. Colleen Smith from Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York described scenes from her hospital as, “apocalyptic”. Other nurses risk their livelihood by exposing that they have ran out of space to hold their dead, so humans bodies are being stored in refrigerator trucks like packaged meat. Ships, carrying passengers infected with the virus, are told they can’t dock in Florida unless they’re Floridians, as if being an American isn’t enough.
Meanwhile, states are forced to bid against other states for resources like ventilators, as the CDC tries to come up with creative ways to prevent the spread. According to John Hopkins University, as of April 3, 2020 we are at 250,000 confirmed cases nationally with over 7,000 deaths, the deadliest day in U.S history (1,095 deaths). The very next day that number grew approximately 25% bringing the total deaths of April 4, 2020 to 1,344. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House Task Force, says we should prepare ourselves for 100,000 – 240,000 total deaths, with 100,000 deaths being considered a victory. That’s unacceptable! That means he’s predicting no less than 93,000 more PEOPLE will die. We have to react fast if we are to prove him wrong. Nurses are risking their lives too! One thing we should learn from this catastrophe is that if we don’t overreact , we under-react ! However, as society prepares to gather data to fight this viral war, in combat we have to remember “no man left behind” not even prisoners.
While society is focused on staying alive and practicing social distancing, prisoners are focused on staying healthy and the fact that social distancing is mission impossible. The facilities inside of Michigan consist of three types of living conditions: (1) the single man cell in which you are alone, (2) the two man cell in which you share with another prisoner and (3) the cube setting for which there could be any number of inmates from 4 – 30 depending on the cell size. The typical living conditions are normally two man cells 6 x 9 in size, but slightly varying, with some having the luxury of an opening window.
The CDC makes the recommendations to control and prevent the spread of infectious disease and if we’re incapable of following these recommendations we are actually increasing the possible spread of the virus. In a matter of a 14 days the MDOC went from 1 confirmed case to 122 confirmed cases and 1 death through out the state of Michigan’s prisons, emphasis added to death and confirmed! The MDOC has implemented a system and criteria for those prisoners that qualify for testing, which are those that display the most severe symptoms. Prisoners that are asymptomatic have no way of knowing if they have contracted the virus which puts the most vulnerable prisoners at risk of being infected because they don’t know who to avoid. There should be no criteria just mandatory testing.
Quarantine in itself is considered harsh, after research I’ve learned that in a 8 men cube setting the PUI (Prisoner Under Investigation) is tested for the virus and held in the holding cell, while the C.C’s (Close Contact) prisoners are held in quarantine in the visiting room with added beds. While they wait on the results, prisoners are allowed bathroom , TV , running water but not allowed to shower for 62 hours. If he here were to test positive then he would be held in solitary confinement, which is better known as ” the hole”, for 14 days. This is a punishment that is longer than some prisoners spend in “the hole” for fighting .
As a result, prisoners displaying the most serious symptoms don’t want to get tested because their receiving a positive result (beyond their control) can be seen as a behavior deserving of punishment because they are threatened with being housed with prisoners who are considered disciplinary problems. As a result , those prisoners are also at risk of contracting the virus due to the usage of the same shower facilities etc.
Prison is the perfect host for incubation for a virus such as covid-19. Everything here from stainless steel , plastic , cardboard , unventilated air, you name it, this virus couldn’t find a better place thrive.
