The letters reported by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington report lack of PPE, lack of testing, and lack of humane treatment in the pandemic.
II: Records reveal allegations of Arizona prisoners suffering rampant mistreatment and neglect during COVID By Sara Wiatrak – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington October 1, 2024 Another parent described how their son had to use a piece of a t-shirt as a mask, and was denied an actual mask “because he does not go outside the prison.” One family member sent a complaint that a physician’s assistant in one of the facilities was actively blocking the inmates from seeing the doctor, while another described a particularly egregious situation where an inmate’s medications were not refilled, sending the inmate into a withdrawal and causing him to throw out his back while vomiting. She said that the last time she intervened for the inmate, the facility health administrator retaliated by sending the inmate for a “surprise epidural” knowing that the previous four they subjected him to had worsened his condition. […] Another inmate wrote that same day about the lack of testing and officers’ dismissive conduct, another glaring theme in the documents: “[The doctor] states on record there’s around 60 positive covid cases here and not recorded due to not being tested[.] it is well over 100. There’s nothing being done about this… there’s no protocol nor safety measures for inmates yet [sic] alone the officers. It is obvious the officers spread covid and continue to do so every minute.”
