Second Conn. inmate dies with coronavirus
Less than 24 hours after a state judge dismissed a lawsuit demanding the release of prisoners vulnerable to becoming seriously ill if they contracted the virus, the Connecticut Department of Correction announced that an inmate with underlying health conditions had died of complications due to COVID-19.
The 57-year-old man was serving a 22-year sentence for first-degree robbery and had been incarcerated since 2002, according to a DOC statement that did not identify the individual. He was to be released in 2022, according to the release.
After he showed COVID-19 symptoms on April 15, officials began to transfer the man to a quarantine unit, but they took him to Johnson Memorial Hospital when his condition worsened during the move, the DOC said.
“The statewide statistics that speak to the number of people that have lost their lives fighting this deadly virus is a difficult number to process because the reality is, it is so much more than a number — these are human beings with families that love them. I extend my sincere condolences to this family,” DOC Commissioner Rollin Cook said.
The man was among 98 new coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the total number of statewide fatalities from the virus up to 1,862, according to state data released Saturday.
While deaths increased, the number of current hospitalizations associated with the virus continued to fall, with 1,810 patients statewide, down 67 from Friday. There were 661 more Connecticut residents who tested positive, putting the state total at 24,582 confirmed cases.
The unidentified 57-yearold inmate is the second in Connecticut to have their death linked to the virus. Another inmate, also with underlying health conditions, died earlier this month.
The news comes on the heels of the dismissal of a state lawsuit that asked the court to order Gov. Ned Lamont and Cook to take emergency action to protect Connecticut’s prison population from the coronavirus.
“The longer Governor Lamont ignores medical experts, families, workers, and more by refusing to issue a compassionate plan to safely release people, the longer incarcerated people remain in harm’s way,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, which filed the lawsuit, tweeted after the DOC announced Saturday’s death.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit Friday night, the ACLU of Connecticut said, noting that it is also pursuing a federal class action lawsuit with similar goals.
The Department of Correction could not comment on the dismissal Saturday “based on active litigation in the federal court,” spokeswoman Karen Martucci wrote in an email.
A release from the ACLU of Connecticut earlier this month described the state lawsuit.
In addition to releasing vulnerable inmates, the state lawsuit asked for the release of persons “being held pretrial on lesser charges or low bond amounts, being held solely for technical violation of probation or parole, eligible for home confinement or supervised release, or within six months of the end of their sentence” and to submit a plan to protect those who remained incarcerated.
Judge Barbara Bellis, who dismissed the lawsuit, declined to comment Saturday, according to Melissa Farley, director of external affairs for the Connecticut Judicial Branch.
The ACLU of Connecticut condemned the decision, with Executive Director David McGuire calling it “cruel” in a statement available online.
"Our hearts go out to the loved ones of incarcerated people, whom the state continues to put in harm’s way from COVID-19. We will not stop fighting, and we are using every tool at our disposal to require Governor Lamont and Commissioner Cook to fulfill their constitutional and moral obligation to protect incarcerated people from COVID-19," Dan Barrett, the organization’s legal director and an attorney on the case, said in the statement.
Lamont’s office declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The state also announced Saturday a new initiative aimed to help small essential businesses with less than 50 employees in need of free face coverings. Small businesses that are eligible can request face coverings online.