The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
A sad, angry farewell to CT’s first inmate coronavirus victim
The first Connecticut prisoner to die with coronavirus, who was approved for release by the Department of Correction and was scrambling to find a place to go before the illness took his life, finally made it home to his family in Bridgeport Thursday in a midday funeral marked by sad “whatifs.”
Family and friends gathered Thursday in a distant corner of St. Michael’s Cemetery for a small ceremony to remember Carlos DeLeon, who died from the virus on April 13 at John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington.
DeLeon had been an inmate at the Osborn Correctional Institute, a medium-security prison in Somers. Several of those gathered, including his sisters, Milagros and Isabel DeLeon, had tried to bring him home before the coronavirus did, to no avail.
DeLeon was halfway through a two-year sentence for a nonviolent firearms possession offense. When he died, he had just turned 63 and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung disease caused by years of smoking — exactly the profile of the inmate the state said it needed to protect from COVID-19.
“Despite the situation, he deserved at least this, for us to pay him respect,” Milagros DeLeon said Thursday,
gesturing toward the grassy area where more than a dozen friends and family members had just gathered to remember her brother. A small table topped with a maroon cloth was covered in pink carnations placed around the black box that held Carlos’ ashes.
“At least he knows we don’t forget him,” Milagros said.
The family also had some consolation that DeLeon’s death brought changes for others behind bars.
DeLeon’s funeral was held a day after the Department of Correction announced a seventh inmate had died with the coronavirus. Since DeLeon’s death, more than 850 inmates and nearly 400 staff have tested positive for the virus. More than 3,800 people have died of the virus in Connecticut as of Thursday.
A lot has changed within the prisons since DeLeon died. For one, a week after DeLeon’s death, the prison system implemented a mask policy for inmates. As of April 21, inmates are required to wear masks when they’re not in their cells.
And about two weeks ago the department began offering testing to its entire incarcerated population. Testing has been completed at both Osborn and the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center, the department said in a release this week. A total of 1,579 offenders were tested, and 298 showed positive results despite no noticeable symptoms.
DeLeon’s death was a flashpoint — and the department remains under fire from activists and families of inmates who claim the state hasn’t done enough to protect its incarcerated population.
A pandemic funeral
It’s tradition when a member of the DeLeon clan dies to hold a big funeral, usually with an open casket. Normally, the multi-day affair draws family from across the country.
But Wednesday, the group was small, restricted by safety precautions. Members of his family and close friends, clad in cloth face masks, spaced six feet apart around the table holding his ashes. Traffic on the stretch of I-95 that looms over this part of the cemetery made it difficult to hear.
The family was told he would have to be cremated even though cremation isn’t in their tradition. For the past month and a half, the family has worked to scrape the funds together to pay the total cost of just under $2,000 for the cremation and services.
The funeral, lasting just under 15 minutes including prayers in both English and Spanish, took place graveside. Carlos would be buried next to his mother, Asuncion DeLeon, who died in
February 1982, according to the simple plaque that marks her gravesite. Fresh flowers planted near the stone on Mother’s Day still bloom there.
Under cemetery policy due to COVID-19, the family couldn’t stay next to the grave for the burial, so they returned to their cars after the prayers.
“He deserves to be remembered. He had a name, he had family,” Milagros said. “I would have done anything to give him a normal funeral, but the great thing is we brought him here and he is resting with mami.”
DeLeon tried to go home
DeLeon was very artistic and did odd jobs over the years, his family said. He did have a significant criminal record.
Databases show he was first incarcerated in 2015 for 18 months with two years of parole for third degree larceny, and served 90 days in 2016 for another minor larceny charge. Connecticut Judicial records show no earlier convictions, though other criminal records show prior convictions for threatening, attempted murder, possession of drug paraphernalia, burglary, larceny and risk of injury to a minor.
DeLeon fit of the criteria required by the Department of Correction for approval for expedited release: over 60 with a medical condition with a sentence of less than two years for a nonviolent offense.
But the department said at the time of his death it couldn’t find an appropriate place for him to go.
DeLeon’s family tried to bring him home — his sister Isabel offered her house. Complications and miscommunications in the application process led Carlos to instead seek approval for a halfway house, apparently under the impression that process might be quicker.
Coronavirus cases were surging outside the prison system, and Carlos said he’d apply for a halfway house rather than have Milagros apply for approval for transitional release, she said. Milagros convinced herself her brother would be safer inside the prison.
By then, it was late March. The department was only testing inmates who showed symptoms. The first tested positive on March 30, and two weeks later DeLeon was dead.