Navy vet sues to get out of prison over virus fears

NEW HAVEN — A 51-year-old Navy veteran imprisoned for possessing a firearm while on probation has sued for his freedom, alleging that the prison system has failed to adequately protect him from the coronavirus.

Marcus Hurdle, represented by students and professors with Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic, petitioned for a writ of habeus corpus with a lawsuit earlier this month. Judge Kari A. Dooley is expected to hear oral arguments on the case Wednesday.

In the petition, Hurdle and his attorneys allege that being imprisoned during the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated his posttraumatic stress disorder, sustained while being shot during his military service.

Attorneys argue that the Department of Correction, in failing to accomodate his PTSD or other risk factors, such as his age, has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Hurdle’s rights under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Commissioner Rollin Cook and Kenneth Butricks, warden of the Cheshire Correctional Institution, are named as defendants in the case.

Among other concerns, attorneys allege that Hurdle is being confined 22 hours a day, triggering his PTSD symptoms, and is unable to socially distance from his cellmate.

“The risk that COVID-19 poses to Mr. Hurdle given his age, serious mental illness, and physical disabilities is an extraordinary circumstance that warrants his immediate release,” attorneys said in the petition. “If Mr. Hurdle remains incarcerated, there is a high risk he will contract COVID-19 and as a result suffer severe physical illness, worsening of his mental illness, or death. Immediate physical release, or an enlargement of the physical confines of Mr. Hurdle’s custody, is therefore the only way for Mr. Hurdle to vindicate the habeas remedy.”

The Department of Veterans

Affairs has rated Hurdle “100 percent” disabled because of his PTSD and 60 percent disabled because of his physical injuries, according to his attorneys.

In a release, members of Hurdle’s family urged the court to grant his petition.

“Every day, I hear about more and more individuals being transferred out of Cheshire because of COVID-19,” said Lynette HurdleBryant, Hurdle’s sister, who lives in Macon, Ga. “Marcus is a sitting duck. We are terrified that he will get infected with COVID-19 and die in prison before he has a chance to see his children again.”

“I’ve never seen Marcus experience such severe PTSD symptoms,” said Lori Esposito, Hurdle’s long-term partner. “He has a complicated past, but he doesn’t deserve to die alone in prison. I love him so much, and would give anything for a chance to keep him safe and help him live a better life.”

Hurdle is serving a 31⁄2-year sentence for violating probation by possessing a firearm, his attorneys said. He is scheduled to be released in June 2022.

In the release, his attorneys said his PTSD led him to selfmedicate with drugs, setting into motion the pattern of behavior resulting “in his incarceration on several occasions for robbery and violating a protective order,” as well as his current sentence.