COVID Spike: The Wyatt Detention Facility reported an increase in positive COVID cases

The Donald Wyatt Detention Facility reported 99 COVID-19 cases among its prisoner population yesterday, according to a court filing submitted by the facility. This is up from the 28 positive cases reported in different court filings on October 15. Wyatt staff are also showing a large increase in cases, with 11 cases as of Monday, up from just two cases on the 15th. 

The Wyatt has become infamous in Rhode Island, with the facility becoming a focal point of protests against the Trump administration’s barbaric immigration policy. The prison itself is a quasi-public agency, typically described as publicly owned and privately operated. It is overseen by a board, appointed by Central Falls mayor Jamie Diossa. Day-to-day operations are handled by the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation; the Wyatt is their only facility. It traditionally houses inmates from the Navy, Marshal Service and recently, ICE. Court-filed reports indicate the prison manages much of its COVID response itself, referring to CDC guidelines and working with the state’s congregate care settings task force to respond to outbreaks. It remains unclear how the initial virus outbreaks began.

The facility encourages strict social distancing, reassigning prisoners to different cells, when feasible, directing all staff to a mandatory quarantine if exhibiting any symptoms. Like many other places, according to the report, the prison has stepped up its cleaning regimen, and temporarily restricted visitations. Inmates are given an increased number of free phone calls, and court appearances are done over audio or video conferencing; the facility installed portable touch screen devices with handsets specifically for communications between prisoners and their attorneys.

The prison quarantines COVID-positive inmates in designated pods, isolating them from the rest of the facility. Wyatt has specific protocols for all new inmates entering the facility — they screen them, test them and quarantine them no more than three days after arrival. As a result of increased cases, the Wyatt has suspended visitation until further notice. 

Tomorrow Judge Mary McElroy will hold a hearing in District Court regarding the conditions for inmates at the Wyatt during COVID-19. The hearing is part of a larger class-action lawsuit by the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union to provide Wyatt detainees with a bail hearing. Social distancing is impossible, argued the ACLU, saying in a press release, “We know, based on the many deaths that have occurred in various nursing homes in our state, that congregate living and COVID-19 are a deadly combination. Congregate living at Wyatt,  where immigrant detainees are being held for civil offenses, is no different. The immigrants being held there should not be subject to a death sentence.”

The original complaint claims detainees are at heightened risk of serious illness or death once infected, and thus their continued detention violated their due process rights. Citing the ACLU petition as a basis, Chief Judge John McConnell ordered the warden of the Wyatt to file reports twice weekly regarding the COVID situation in the facility. Reports must identify the number of ICE and non-ICE inmates, as well as the coronavirus rates for each.

In June, Judge McElroy held marathon individual bail hearings as part of the ACLU’s case. The lawsuit led to the conditional release of 25 ICE detainees, with three additional medically vulnerable detainees being released as part of a separate court case. The court denied 27 detainees bail, and three bail applications are still pending.