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Federal prisons struggle to combat growing fears of spreading virus

WASHINGTON (AP) — When a federal correction officer geared up for duty recently at a Florida prison complex, he added an N95 mask amid coronavirus fears. He has a sister who had an organ transplant and an elderly mother at home.

But a supervisor ordered him to take it off and threatened disciplinary action if he refused. At other federal prisons, though, he would have been told to wear one. Rules on protective gear vary widely from prison to prison.

And inmates say there is little guidance on what to do if they experience flu-like symptoms and very little social distancing. Some who have symptoms are not tested.

Together, these accounts detail a scattershot policy on COVID-19 safety at the federal Bureau of Prisons amid the growing pandemic. Advocates and even prison guards are calling for reforms to head off a potential outbreak in a prison system plagued for years by violence, misconduct and staffing shortages.

This report is based on interviews with nearly two dozen correction officers, inmates, attorneys and advocates, many of whom spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

Health officials have been warning for more than a decade about the dangers of epidemics in jails and prisons, which are ideal environments for virus outbreaks: Inmates share small cells with strangers, use toilets just a few feet (meters) from their beds and are herded into day rooms where they spend hours at a time together.

While statistically the number of confirmed coronavirus cases within the Bureau of Prisons system is far lower than the rate outside prisons in the U.S., there is widespread fear among inmates and staff members that the virus could spread rapidly. So far, 14 inmates and 13 staff members within the federal prison system have been confirmed to have COVID-19.

Attorney General William Barr said Thursday that the Justice Department takes seriously “our responsibility to protect those who are put in our custody.”

“We want to make sure that our institutions don’t become petri dishes,” he said. “But we have the protocols that are designed to stop that, and we are using all the tools we have to protect the inmates.”

In a statement to the AP, Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal said the agency has “thus far been fortunate in that our rate of COVID-19 infection is remarkably low.”

“We believe that the low number of cases to this point, in a system this large, is a testament to our effective planning and execution to date,” he said.

And the Bureau of Prisons said its employees were expected to follow its guidance on the coronavirus and would investigate if officials are “made aware of specific circumstances that would lead us to believe that policy or guidance may not have been followed.”

There are approximately 146,000 inmates at the 122 federal correctional facilities across the U.S., including about 10,000 over the age of 60. New inmates coming into the federal prison system are screened for COVID-19 risk factors, have their temperature taken and are being quarantined for 14 days.

But inmates nationwide contacted by the AP raised a similar issue: There are no signs or documents listing the symptoms of COVID-19, and there’s been little communication about what they should do if they experience flu-like symptoms.

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