D.C. Corrections Officers Support Inmates’ Coronavirus Lawsuit Against the DOC
District of Columbia correctional workers are supporting a lawsuit against the Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections over what they say is a failure to protect incarcerated people during the coronavirus outbreak.
The lawsuit, filed March 30 by the Public Defender Service and the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the Department of Corrections’ treatment of incarcerated people who could die or be seriously injured if infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and argued for more testing, better safety measures and the release of some vulnerable incarcerated people.
But correctional officers are being put at risk, too. So the DOC’s labor union took the unusual step of announcing its support for the lawsuit.
“I can say that without exception, these are the absolute worst conditions I have ever experienced,” said Jannease Johnson, who has worked at the DOC for 29 years, at a press conference outside the Washington, D.C., jail on Wednesday. “Management has left the staff and inmates to become infected, sick and/or die.”
At least four people detained in the facility have tested positive for COVID-19, and Johnson said that by next week, “half of our officers will be home on quarantine.”
I can say that without exception, these are the absolute worst conditions I have ever experienced. Jannease Johnson, D.C. DOC employee
The DOC has not been following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for the coronavirus pandemic “at all,” said Cpl. Benjamin Olubasusi, the chairman of the DOC’s labor committee. He said both department and city leaders have refused to listen to their concerns, and that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) warned it would be illegal for the corrections officers to go on strike. “The leaders are now leaving us to die,” Olubasusi said.
While those inside prisons and jails nationwide have spoken out about how the cramped and unsanitary conditions inside will cause...
