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As a coronavirus outbreak swept through Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York, the facility used some of its solitary confinement cells to quarantine inmates.

This information comes from a previously undisclosed report from the Correctional Association of New York, the only nongovernmental agency permitted to investigate New York state-run prisons. The association compiled its report during a visit to Fishkill — 85 miles north of New York City — on July 8 and 9, which included interviews with 162 inmates there.

The preliminary report, obtained by The Daily Orange, shows inconsistent medical procedures and deviations from the state’s emergency protocol as the outbreak infected dozens of inmates.

The prison had conducted enough tests to account for less than 20% of its incarcerated population as of July 9th, with just over one-third coming back positive, the report indicated. Some inmates believed they had been tested but they had only received non-contact temperature screenings.

“While the Department (of Corrections) is saying that they’re screening everyone, and they’re testing in targeted ways, they’re not doing public education with incarcerated people,” said Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York.

One inmate said he had to submit a Freedom of Information Law request to receive his test results, which came back positive. Others said they believed they had contracted the virus but had not sought medical attention to avoid solitary confinement.

The Correctional Association of New York conducted the interviews nearly four months after New York state prisons halted programs and visitations in an attempt to prevent coronavirus from spreading inside facilities. Five inmates at Fishkill had died from COVID-19 as of July 9. No additional inmates have died since.

The report’s findings indicated that inmates’ access to hand sanitizer varied depending on the area of the prison and the “interpersonal dynamics” between inmates and staff, with 71% of the interviewees saying they had regular access to masks or hand sanitizer. Half of the interviewees said they could not maintain social distancing in the prison.

CANY Preliminary Findings From Fishkill 7.18.20 by The Daily Orange on Scribd

About 64% of those interviewed said that staff regularly wore masks, though several inmates stated that mask-wearing among staff “seems to be a matter of politics.” Department of Corrections and Community Supervision staff are required to wear masks.

The association sent its findings to DOCCS and several state legislators in late July with a list of recommendations. Among them were expanded testing, increased education on COVID-19 and the release of more inmates.

DOCCS has since begun facility-wide coronavirus testing in Fishkill and other state prisons in the Hudson Valley region, a spokesperson said in an email statement.

“From the outset of this global health crisis, DOCCS has taken swift action, guided by facts and the recommendations of the New York State Department of Health and the CDC, to stop the spread of COVID-19 among staff and incarcerated individuals,” the statement read.

The preliminary findings will be part of a final report that the Correctional Association of New York expects to release later this week, Scaife said.

The D.O. spoke to three former inmates who had left Fishkill within the past 15 months. They described tight cells and crowded hallways that they said make social distancing difficult inside the facility.

A man who was released from Fishkill on April 19 said inmates were quarantined in different units throughout the prison. But social distancing in Fishkill was a “facade,” said the former inmate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Cells, or cubes, are placed tightly together and inmates line up several times each day “shoulder to shoulder” to be counted, he said.

Before he left, inmates had little information on testing or symptoms related to COVID-19, he said. One of his friends thought they had symptoms in March, and he urged them to report their symptoms.

At the time he received the report, Assemblymember David Weprin (D-Queens), chair of the New York State Assembly’s correction committee, had regular calls with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office and DOCCS officials. The report indicated a much higher coronavirus positivity rate in Fishkill than he had anticipated.

“Anecdotally, we’ve been contacted about the lack of social distancing in a number of facilities, not just at Fishkill, (and) the lack of having access to the masks and sanitizers,” Weprin said. “Those are clearly issues and it seems to kind of be a little different than some of the things that we’ve heard from DOCCS.”

Visits across New York state prisons resumed in early August. As of Friday, there had been 1,286 tests administered at Fishkill, with no current active cases, according to DOCCS.

Darryle Jones, who was released from Fishkill in November, heard about the coronavirus outbreak and quarantined in his Brooklyn home for three weeks before returning to work.

“My reaction to it was ‘thank God I was released,” Jones said.

Published on September 8, 2020 at 12:21 am

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326