Supreme Court denies California’s appeal for immunity for COVID-19 deaths at San Quentin prison
7 months, 4 weeks ago

Supreme Court denies California’s appeal for immunity for COVID-19 deaths at San Quentin prison

Associated Press  

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied an appeal from California corrections officials who sought immunity from lawsuits claiming they acted with deliberate indifference when they caused a deadly COVID-19 outbreak at one of the world’s most famous prisons four years ago. The lawsuit stemmed from the botched transfer of infected inmates in May 2020 from a Southern California prison to San Quentin, which at the time had no infections. Prison administrators killed 29 people in what the 9th Circuit called a ‘textbook case’ of deliberate indifference.” The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Monday that it does not comment on active legal proceedings. Prison officials “ignored virtually every safety measure” in making the transfers, Marin County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Howard wrote in a 2021 tentative ruling in the case.

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History of this topic

Supreme Court denies California’s plea for immunity for COVID-19 deaths at San Quentin
7 months, 4 weeks ago

Supreme Court denies California’s plea for immunity for COVID-19 deaths at San Quentin

LA Times  

Gilbert Polanco, a guard at San Quentin for more than two decades, contracted COVID-19 on the job and died in 2020. The Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from California prison officials who sought immunity from lawsuits for having transferred inmates with COVID-19 to San Quentin in May 2020, setting off an outbreak that killed 26 prisoners and …

Death row inmates are being transferred out of San Quentin. Chino city officials are sounding the alarm
8 months ago

Death row inmates are being transferred out of San Quentin. Chino city officials are sounding the alarm

LA Times  

A condemned inmate is led to his cell in San Quentin’s Death Row. City and law enforcement officials in San Bernardino County say they are outraged after dozens of death row inmates were transferred from San Quentin State Prison to Chino. “The transfer of death row inmates to CIM creates tangible public safety concerns for local residents,” said San Bernardino …

Newsom has approved three California prison closures but resists pressure to shutter more
9 months, 1 week ago

Newsom has approved three California prison closures but resists pressure to shutter more

LA Times  

The California Correctional Center in Susanville, shown in 2021, was one of three prisons Gov. Shortly after taking office, Newsom placed a moratorium on the death penalty and has approved the closure of three prisons since 2019, but his administration appears to be pulling back from a 2022 budget proposal that considered “right-sizing California’s prison system” by possibly closing even …

Column: Tinkering with Prop. 47 won’t lower crime. Fixing San Quentin will
1 year ago

Column: Tinkering with Prop. 47 won’t lower crime. Fixing San Quentin will

LA Times  

In 2020, after the tragic murder of George Floyd, there was a moment when it seemed as if America, California included, was ready to reform our broken and discriminatory criminal justice system. But what is about to happen inside San Quentin State Prison has the potential to fundamentally change crime and punishment in the Golden State, and beyond. Gavin Newsom …

Appeals court rules lawsuit by family of San Quentin guard who died of COVID-19 can proceed
1 year, 5 months ago

Appeals court rules lawsuit by family of San Quentin guard who died of COVID-19 can proceed

LA Times  

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected California’s bid to toss out a lawsuit filed by the family of a corrections officer who died three years ago from COVID-19 after state officials ordered the transfer of infected inmates into his prison from another facility. His family sued in federal court the following year, accusing the California Department of Corrections and …

Report: Four of California’s prisons ranked worst at handling COVID, care for inmates
1 year, 7 months ago

Report: Four of California’s prisons ranked worst at handling COVID, care for inmates

LA Times  

Outside the California Institute for Men, Chino, in 2020. Forty-eight people said they were exposed to COVID when officials failed to follow medical protocols — failures that “went well beyond mismanagement,” the UCLA team wrote. “We found that incarcerated people were subjected to extreme isolation, systemic medical neglect, and physical and verbal abuse — all of which went largely unreported …

California will remake San Quentin prison, emphasizing rehab
1 year, 9 months ago

California will remake San Quentin prison, emphasizing rehab

Associated Press  

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — Visiting San Quentin, California’s oldest prison once home to a gas chamber used to execute inmates on the nation’s largest death row, Gov. If San Quentin can do it, it can be done anywhere else.” Despite Newsom’s ambitious tone, he offered few concrete details on what the new system would look like and who it would …

California will remake San Quentin prison, emphasizing rehab
1 year, 9 months ago

California will remake San Quentin prison, emphasizing rehab

LA Times  

Incarcerated men visit with Gov. Visiting San Quentin, California’s oldest prison once home to a gas chamber used to execute inmates on the nation’s largest death row, Gov. If San Quentin can do it, it can be done anywhere else.” Despite Newsom’s ambitious tone, he offered few concrete details on what the new system would look like and who it …

California is closing San Quentin’s death row. This is its gruesome history
2 years, 11 months ago

California is closing San Quentin’s death row. This is its gruesome history

LA Times  

California’s death row is at San Quentin prison, on a spit of land jutting into the San Francisco Bay. Former warden Clinton T. Duffy, who wrote a book about his San Quentin years, agreed: “I have never heard of a rich man being executed in this state — a man with means enough for a good defense.” Capital punishment “is …

Op-Ed: We pleaded for social distancing here in San Quentin. The state refused, and now COVID is raging
2 years, 11 months ago

Op-Ed: We pleaded for social distancing here in San Quentin. The state refused, and now COVID is raging

LA Times  

Cells intended to house one person are being used for two, despite evidence of contagion from living in such close quarters. In his ruling in the lawsuit last November, Marin County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Howard acknowledged that “in double-occupancy cells, one person cannot avoid infection if the cellmate has contracted the virus.” Looking back at the 28 deaths in …

Court blocks COVID-19 vaccination mandate for California prisons
3 years, 1 month ago

Court blocks COVID-19 vaccination mandate for California prisons

LA Times  

A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked an order that all California prison workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a religious or medical exemption. The judge who issued the vaccination mandate followed the recommendation of a court-appointed receiver who was chosen to manage the state prison healthcare system after a federal judge in 2005 found that California …

California judge tentatively rejects cutting inmate crowding
3 years, 2 months ago

California judge tentatively rejects cutting inmate crowding

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Northern California judge tentatively ruled Friday that state prison officials acted with deliberate indifference when they caused a deadly coronavirus outbreak at one of the world’s most famous prisons last year. Prison officials “ignored virtually every safety measure in doing so,” Marin County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Howard wrote in a 114-page tentative ruling Friday. “It …

Prison guard’s COVID death resulted from transfer of infected inmates, family alleges
3 years, 4 months ago

Prison guard’s COVID death resulted from transfer of infected inmates, family alleges

LA Times  

The family of a San Quentin prison guard who died of COVID-19 claim in a recently filed lawsuit that his death, along with 28 others, resulted from the botched transfer of infected inmates from a Southern California prison in May 2020. Gilbert Polanco, a 55-year-old father of two, died less than three months after a bus, dubbed “the beast” by …

Record virus fine hits California prison with worst outbreak
3 years, 11 months ago

Record virus fine hits California prison with worst outbreak

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California workplace safety regulators announced Thursday that a state prison rocked by one of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreaks has been hit with by far its largest pandemic-related fine yet against an employer. The $421,880 fine against San Quentin State Prison is several times higher than any others levied by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, …

San Quentin prison is fined $421,880 over deadly COVID-19 conditions; 28 inmates and an officer died
3 years, 11 months ago

San Quentin prison is fined $421,880 over deadly COVID-19 conditions; 28 inmates and an officer died

LA Times  

By the end of August, 2,237 inmates and 277 staff members had been infected at San Quentin, according to a California Inspector General’s report. The Cal-OSHA report, issued Thursday, comes on the heels of a scathing State Inspector General’s report that found health officials with the corrections department ignored warnings of front-line health workers and pressured them to hastily transfer …

Court orders San Quentin prison to sharply cut inmate population after COVID outbreak
4 years, 2 months ago

Court orders San Quentin prison to sharply cut inmate population after COVID outbreak

LA Times  

California corrections officials must release or transfer more than 1,000 inmates from the state’s notoriously outdated San Quentin prison after showing “deliberate indifference” to prisoners’ health during an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, an appeals court ruled this week. Within a few weeks, the number of infections among prisoners had begun to soar as the virus spread unchecked through the …

Family of San Quentin inmate who contracted COVID-19 files wrongful death claim
4 years, 4 months ago

Family of San Quentin inmate who contracted COVID-19 files wrongful death claim

LA Times  

The family of a San Quentin inmate who contracted the coronavirus has filed the first death claim against the California correctional system related to the pandemic, citing the botched transfer of infected prisoners as the cause of his death. Daniel Ruiz, 61, is one of 27 inmates and employees who died of virus-related illnesses after San Quentin, California’s oldest prison, …

More than 500 inmates in Tucson prison unit of Arizona test COVID-19 positive
4 years, 5 months ago

More than 500 inmates in Tucson prison unit of Arizona test COVID-19 positive

Firstpost  

According to the Arizona Department of Corrections COVID-19 dashboard, 890 inmates at the state prisons and 564 staff members have tested positive Los Angeles: More than 500 inmates - nearly half the population - of a prison in the US state of Arizona have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said, while at a California prison the COVID-19 toll …

San Quentin coronavirus outbreak: At least 15 inmates have died of apparent complications from Covid-19
4 years, 5 months ago

San Quentin coronavirus outbreak: At least 15 inmates have died of apparent complications from Covid-19

CNN  

CNN — At least 15 people incarcerated at California’s oldest prison have died since June from apparent Covid-19-related complications amid a growing coronavirus outbreak at the facility, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. San Quentin, just north of San Francisco, has witnessed the worst coronavirus outbreak in California’s prison system. Unlike some of the state’s other correctional …

Inmates talk of COVID fear and helplessness after transfers bring ‘the beast’ to San Quentin
4 years, 5 months ago

Inmates talk of COVID fear and helplessness after transfers bring ‘the beast’ to San Quentin

LA Times  

Outside the California Institute for Men in Chino. What they didn’t know was that “the ‘beast’ came with them,” Estrada said, alluding to the lethal virus that hitched a ride on one of the most disastrous prisoner transfers in state history. “Lots of grown men who aren’t scared of much were really scared.” More than 2,000 inmates at San Quentin …

8th death row inmate dies at San Quentin as COVID-19 surge continues in prison
4 years, 5 months ago

8th death row inmate dies at San Quentin as COVID-19 surge continues in prison

LA Times  

Another inmate at San Quentin has died from what is believed to be complications from COVID-19, bringing the death toll at California’s oldest prison to 13. Beames had been on death row since 1995 after being convicted of first-degree murder in Tulare County for fatally beating his girlfriend’s 15-month-old daughter the year before. San Quentin has been hit hard, with …

COVID cuts a lethal path through San Quentin’s death row
4 years, 5 months ago

COVID cuts a lethal path through San Quentin’s death row

Salon  

The old men live in cramped spaces and breathe the same ventilated air. It is California's death row at San Quentin State Prison, north of San Francisco. "San Quentin's staff — especially medical staff — is simply drowning among the chaos," State Public Defender Mary McComb said in a letter last week to the state Senate Public Safety Committee. Dozens …

Editorial: Every prison cell is now a coronavirus death row
4 years, 5 months ago

Editorial: Every prison cell is now a coronavirus death row

LA Times  

San Quentin is California’s most famous, most picturesque, most aged, most poorly designed and most lethal state prison. About 400 miles to the south, at the California Institute for Men in Chino, the coronavirus spread swiftly among more than 600 inmates, causing multiple deaths and putting other inmates directly in harm’s way. The prison’s notorious execution chamber has been quiet …

7 prisoners with coronavirus died at San Quentin and hundreds more are dying in US jails and prisons
4 years, 6 months ago

7 prisoners with coronavirus died at San Quentin and hundreds more are dying in US jails and prisons

CNN  

Gavin Newsom is facing mounting pressure to release inmates as corrections officials scramble to contain outbreaks of coronavirus at state prisons. Nearly 100 people have died in Texas facilities Before the outbreak at San Quentin, the virus ravaged correctional facilities in central Ohio, Illlinois, Colorado and Texas, where at least 91 incarcerated people and nine staff members with Covid-19 have …

California prisons replace their top medical officer amid a coronavirus outbreak
4 years, 6 months ago

California prisons replace their top medical officer amid a coronavirus outbreak

CNN  

CNN — The top medical officer for California’s corrections system has been replaced amid a growing coronavirus outbreak among the state’s inmates. “In order to meet current response needs while also working toward further delegations of medical care back to state control, it has become evident that a reorganization is necessary for long-term sustainability.” The move comes while more than …

Top medical officer for California prisons ousted amid worsening coronavirus outbreak
4 years, 6 months ago

Top medical officer for California prisons ousted amid worsening coronavirus outbreak

LA Times  

The decision to transfer hundreds of inmates from the California Institution for Men in Chino, shown, during a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility has been blamed for helping spread the virus to other prisons. The leadership shakeup occurred as corrections officials reported three more deaths over the July 4 weekend among inmates at San Quentin State Prison, where more than …

2 more death row inmates at San Quentin die from coronavirus complications
4 years, 6 months ago

2 more death row inmates at San Quentin die from coronavirus complications

CNN  

CNN — At least three death row inmates at California’s San Quentin State Prison had coronavirus and died, corrections officials says. An outbreak of the virus has overrun San Quentin since last month, with more than a third of incarcerated people there testing positive for Covid-19, according to CDCR data. A fourth death row inmate, Joseph Safarino Cordova, died Wednesday …

Nearly half of coronavirus cases in California prisons are in San Quentin
4 years, 6 months ago

Nearly half of coronavirus cases in California prisons are in San Quentin

CNN  

CNN — Richard Stitely had spent nearly 30 years on death row when the pandemic hit California’s San Quentin State Prison. More than a third of incarcerated people in San Quentin have tested positive for the virus and nearly half of coronavirus cases throughout the state’s prison system are currently there, according to a tally from the California Department of …

San Quentin coronavirus outbreak spreads: 1,113 prisoners infected, death row inmate dies
4 years, 6 months ago

San Quentin coronavirus outbreak spreads: 1,113 prisoners infected, death row inmate dies

LA Times  

With about a third of San Quentin’s inmates now infected with the coronavirus after a transfer of prisoners from a Southern California correctional facility overrun by the illness, Marin County officials revealed Monday that a death row inmate found dead last week in his cell tested positive for COVID-19. California San Quentin prison coronavirus outbreak ‘tragic, predictable and unacceptable’ More …

San Quentin prison coronavirus outbreak ‘tragic, predictable and unacceptable’
4 years, 6 months ago

San Quentin prison coronavirus outbreak ‘tragic, predictable and unacceptable’

LA Times  

More than 500 inmates are infected with the coronavirus at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County. The number of infections at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County continues to soar, with more than 500 inmates infected, officials said Thursday. San Quentin State Prison has the largest number of patients with active coronavirus infections, according to the California Department …

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