Prison with biggest COVID-19 outbreak getting donations

Former prisoners offer items such as masks, toilet paper

The Florida women’s prison that has seen the most positive coronavirus tests among inmates of any state facility is getting donations of much-needed supplies, like toilet paper and face masks, from a group of former prisoners.

Last month, nonprofit Change Comes Now donated almost 3,000 rolls of toilet paper, about 1,500 bars of antibacterial soap, more than 2,000 disposable medical masks and 10,000 gloves, as well as cleaning supplies, to Homestead Correctional Institution in hard-hit Miami-Dade County, according to Debra Bennett, the nonprofit’s executive director.

The group had been hearing for weeks that the prison was struggling to keep up with the needs of the women and staff during the pandemic, Bennett said.

“We couldn’t sit back and wait for the administration to take care of them,” said Bennett, who served time at Homestead CI. “They don’t have what’s needed.”

Almost 300 inmate tests at Homestead CI have come back positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, the most of any state prison as of Thursday, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Yet Homestead is one of the state’s smaller main institutions, housing fewer than 700 women. Only two other state prisons — Liberty Correctional Institution west of Tallahassee and Hamilton Correctional Institution north of Gainesville, both of which incarcerate more than 1,000 people — have reported more than 200 positive inmate COVID-19 tests.

Thirty staff at Homestead have also tested positive.

As of this week, 15 inmates have died after testing positive for COVID-19 across all state prisons, but none have occurred at Homestead CI, according to FDC.

The Orlando Sentinel sent questions to the Florida Department of Corrections on May 28, but the agency did not respond until after this story was published online.

Late Friday, FDC sent a response disputing how many supplies the nonprofit donated.

Kayla McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for FDC, said the nonprofit donated about half as many toilet paper rolls and soap as the nonprofit reported in its records, which Bennett shared with the Sentinel. She also said FDC “routinely accepts donations from the public.”

McLaughlin did not respond to questions about the state of the COVID-19 outbreak and response at Homestead or access to PPE and other supplies at the facility.

Keith Harris, the director of the Florida Justice League, is working on some cases of women incarcerated at Homestead.

While he was glad the women and staff got some needed supplies from Bennett’s group, he is concerned what that means for the state of the prison.

“Why would the people have to donate this?” Harris said. “Why isn’t the state agency running properly, what else is missing? There’s no telling.”

‘Our community inside’

While Bennett said Homestead’s comparatively high numbers may reflect that many other prisons still have not expanded testing of inmates, she said it is still concerning that, according to inmates, little has been done to address the outbreak and the issues that come with housing a sick and quarantined population. In a May 11 press release about the outbreak at Homestead, when only 73 inmate tests had come back positive, FDC officials said “response teams have been activated to address emerging needs.”

At that time, FDC officials said more than 42,500 face or surgical masks, 20,000 N-95 or equivalent respirators, 4,000 gowns or coveralls, 1,000 pairs of protective eyewear, 1,000 boxes of gloves and a supply of shoe covers were available for staff at Homestead CI. The agency, they said, was “closely monitoring their usage and ensuring Homestead has a consistent inventory of PPE available.”

The day after that press release, Bennett said her nonprofit made their first donation trip to Homestead, taking toilet paper and antibacterial soap for the women and bottles of hand sanitizer and cleaning alcohol for staff. Over the next three weeks, Bennett said her team brought more toilet paper and soap for the women, as well as puzzle books to help them pass the time and enough masks for each women to get two new ones. She said they found a way to bring a new TV when staff asked, because the infirmary’s only TV stopped working.