‘Old and infirm’ & sprung
Gets bail because inmate in his unit tested positive
An inmate diagnosed with coronavirus at a dysfunctional federal jail in lower Manhattan was held in a unit for “old and infirm” men particularly vulnerable to the illness, according to new court papers.
Attorney Darren LaVerne, who won bail for a 64-year-old asthmatic man, wrote in papers filed Saturday that a second inmate from the same dorm-style unit also tested positive for COVID-19.
LaVerne successfully argued that his client, Pedro Hernandez, should be released on bail while awaiting trial for drug conspiracy because the Metropolitan Correctional Center is woefully unprepared for an outbreak.
“On March 24, 2020, the MCC disclosed that an inmate had tested positive for COVID-19, and that the inmate had, to that point, been housed in the same unit where the MCC’s high-risk population had been confined (cellblock 11 South) — a dormlike setting where the old and infirm, including Mr. Hernandez, had been moved,” LaVerne wrote.
“Mr. Hernandez continues to be housed with approximately 20 other inmates, all of whom are considered highrisk by the CDC, in 11 South. The entire cellblock shares one urinal, one toilet and one shower.”
At least four inmates at the Metropolitan Correctional Center have the virus, according to Federal Defenders of New York and other court rulings issued Monday.
Hernandez’s risk of exposure will not diminish as much as he likely hoped now that he’s out of the lockup. Manhattan Federal Judge Victor Marrero ordered Monday that he be held in home confinement at a homeless shelter.
“The defendant shall be on 24-hour lockdown in the shelter except for emergency medical visits and visits with his attorneys,” Marrero wrote.
As of Sunday, at least 99 homeless people in 59 shelters across the city had tested positive for coronavirus and two have died, according to reports.
Nevertheless, the shelters aren’t as bad as the federal jail, according to LaVerne. “We recognize that the shelter system is not an ideal place to reside during the current crisis. But our discussions with other defense counsel who have had clients released there in recent weeks and with a social worker at the Federal Defenders who is familiar with the conditions in the shelter system confirm to us that it is superior to the MCC,” LaVerne wrote.
The Metropolitan Correctional
Center has been in disarray since Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself in August while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. The jail recently endured a two-week lockdown due to a loaded gun smuggled into the lockup. Just as jail officials were about to lift the lockdown, bans on visits with family and attorneys were reimposed due to the outbreak.
Hernandez’s case is an example of a trend of federal judges granting bail to inmates at particular risk. Advocates and defense attorneys fear once the coronavirus makes it inside jail walls it will spread like wildfire. For the moment, the city jail system is faring worse. Officials said Sunday 114 Correction Department staffers and 139 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19.