In just the past week, two women have died from COVID-19 in federal prison facilities. 

Rebecca Marie Adams and Bree Eberbaugh were both incarcerated at FPC Alderson in West Virginia. These women will never get to go home. Their deaths were preventable. 

Incarceration anywhere, including at minimum security level facilities like FPC Alderson, should never equate to a death sentence. And yet, the Bureau of Prisons(BOP) has reported 50,000 infections and 279 deaths since the beginning of COVID-19. There have been 3,000 infections and 2 deaths in just the past week! And we know from sources inside facilities and expert witnesses that BOP’s reports do not reflect the extent of this humanitarian crisis. 

BOP has the power to grant medically vulnerable people compassionate release or to allow them to finish their sentences on home confinement. And yet, only about 5 percent of the people in federal prison have been granted release to home confinement, and only 36 compassionate release requests were granted between March 2020 and June 2021. These deplorably low release numbers are in addition to the use of historically racist assessment tools to determine the “risk level” or likelihood of recidivism. Unsurprisingly, Black people score worse than any other group.

This is why in partnership with The National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, we’re calling on the BOP to release all medically vulnerable people from federal prisons immediately. 

We can’t sit and wait while people’s lives are at stake. COVID-19 in prisons is a death sentence. Join us to demand the BOP release people now!

Here is the Petition:

Dear Michael Carvajal, 

We are writing to you with great concern about the treatment of women incarcerated in Federal Prison Facilities, especially FPC Alderson in West Virginia and FCI Danbury in Connecticut. 

In just the past week, two women have died from COVID-19 at FCP Alderson. Rebecca Marie Adams and Bree Eberbaugh will never get to go home. Their deaths were preventable. 

Advocates at Color Of Change are being told that women at Alderson are being denied access to tests altogether. If people report symptoms, they are being thrown into an isolation unit without a positive test, likely to keep infection report numbers lower than they are. Women with active infections are still being forced to cook food in the kitchen due to a lack of staff. Staff is not wearing proper PPE, and women are being given 1 mask every few weeks and denied access to medications. We’ve even been told that a woman was denied treatment or admission to a hospital before she died. 

And this inhumane treatment isn't unique to Alderson. Color Of Change has also heard from people at Danbury that ALL of the women in the Camp are currently infected, despite reports that say only half of the women are.The facilities were on total lockdown for over a week with zero access to phones, computers, the law or leisure library, and classrooms. As a result, desperate families have no way to know whether their incarcerated loved one is safe or healthy: Their only choice is to wait in agony as news is shared through the rumor mill. 

Incarceration anywhere, including at minimum security level facilities like FPC Alderson and FCI Danbury, should never equate to a death sentence. And yet, the BOP has reported 50,000 infections and 279 deaths since the beginning of COVID-19. There have been 3,000 infections and 2 deaths in just the past week! 

BOP has the power to grant medically vulnerable people compassionate release or to allow them to finish their sentences on home confinement. And yet, only about 5 percent of the people in federal prison have been granted release to home confinement, and only 36 compassionate release requests were granted between March 2020 and June 2021. These deplorably low release numbers are in addition to the use of historically racist assessment tools to determine the “risk level” or likelihood of recidivism. Unsurprisingly, Black people score worse than any other group.

Thousands of people released to home confinement under the CARES Act passed by Congress in March 2020 have already successfully rejoined their communities. They’ve been able to get jobs, start school, help take care of elderly parents and children. In fact, home confinement under the CARES Act has had a 99% success rate. This is further proof that people will always have a better chance at surviving and thriving outside of cages and when surrounded by community and chosen family.  

Over the past 2 years of living through COVID-19, we’ve confirmed that prisons are among the most significant battlefields of the pandemic. Not only is social distancing next to impossible, but people who are incarcerated are also at greater risk of serious complications or death from the virus because of health issues caused and exacerbated by conditions and lack of access to healthcare and services inside prisons.

We’ve also confirmed that releasing people who are incarcerated to home confinement to finish their sentences can help curb the spread of COVID-19 in jails, prisons, and surrounding communities. 

BOP has these tools at their disposal, and yet, federal prisons are currently experiencing the highest rates of COVID-19 since March 2020. 

If we’re going to keep people safe during the pandemic and make any sort of meaningful impact towards undoing the harm of years of racialized mass incarceration, we must release people immediately. We can’t sit and wait while people’s lives are at stake. This is why we’re calling on the BOP to release all medically vulnerable people from federal prisons immediately.