[Andrea Circle Bear, 30, had been sentenced to 26 months in
federal prison on a drug charge. ] [[link removed]]
US INMATE WITH CORONAVIRUS DIES WEEKS AFTER GIVING BIRTH ON A
VENTILATOR
[[link removed]]
Lois Beckett
April 29, 2020
The Guardian
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_ Andrea Circle Bear, 30, had been sentenced to 26 months in federal
prison on a drug charge. _
, Lakota People's Law Project
A pregnant Native American woman incarcerated in a federal prison in
Texas [[link removed]] was diagnosed with
coronavirus and died in federal custody on Tuesday, officials said.
Andrea Circle Bear, 30, had been sentenced to more than two years in
prison on a drug charge this January. She delivered her baby by
caesarean section while on a ventilator in a Texas hospital on 1
April, and died there on 28 April.
Circle Bear’s child survived, but officials declined to provide any
additional information on the baby’s condition or where the child is
now, “out of respect for the family and for privacy reasons”, a
Bureau of Prisons spokesman said.
The 30-year-old woman “had a pre-existing medical condition” that
made her more at risk for a severe case of coronavirus, according to
federal officials, who did not specify what the condition was.
“Andrea should never have been in jail in the first place.
Period,” the Democratic congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said on
Wednesday during a discussion hosted
[[link removed]]
by the Appeal, a criminal justice news site.
“That she was there at all is cruel and negligent,” Pressley said,
calling Circle Bear one of many people “trapped inside of prison
systems because of systemic inequities and a failed war on drugs”.
The Appeal (@theappeal)
Rep. @AyannaPressley
[[link removed]] joins 'The
Briefing' to discuss care for incarcerated people during COVID-19: "We
have to have reentry support. We have to have housing support. We have
to have healthcare support. What we already know from prison is that
you can't treat trauma with trauma." pic.twitter.com/QeeguDznTi
[[link removed]]
April 29, 2020
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Circle Bear had admitted to selling 5.5 grams of methamphetamine to a
confidential informant in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, over two
different days in April 2018, according to court documents. She
pleaded guilty to the charge of “maintaining a drug-involved
premises”.
This January, Circle Bear, who was already five months pregnant,
according to court documents, was sentenced to 26 months in federal
prison by Judge Roberto A Lange.
Her sentencing documents note that Circle Bear had a history of
substance abuse and recommended her as a candidate for a prison
substance abuse treatment program. The documents also recommended that
she be placed in a prison medical facility, given that she was
pregnant, and due to deliver her child in early May.
The Department of Justice touted Circle Bear’s sentencing in a
January press release
[[link removed]].
“Don’t let yourself or your property get mixed up in the world of
illegal drugs. It ends badly,” the US attorney Ron Parsons said in a
statement.
Circle Bear is the 29th federal inmate to die in the Bureau of
Prisons’ custody since late March. As of Tuesday, more than 1,700
federal inmates have tested positive for Covid-19. About 400 of those
inmates have recovered.
On 20 March, Circle Bear had been transferred from a local jail in
South Dakota, to FMC Carswell, a federal prison medical facility in
Fort Worth, Texas, officials said.
The prison medical facility was more than 1,000 miles away from Circle
Bear’s home of Eagle Butte, South Dakota, which is part of the
Cheyenne River Sioux Indian reservation.
As a new inmate in the federal prison system, Circle Bear was
quarantined as part of the Bureau of Prisons’ plan to slow the
spread of the coronavirus, according to a press release from the
bureau.
Eight days after she arrived, she was taken to a local hospital for
“potential concerns regarding her pregnancy”, but was discharged
from the hospital the same day and brought back to the prison,
officials said. Three days later, prison medical staff members decided
she should be brought back to the hospital after she developed a
fever, dry cough and other symptoms, according to the Bureau of
Prisons.
Circle Bear was put on a ventilator the same day she arrived at the
hospital and her baby was born the next day, officials said. She
tested positive for Covid-19 days later.
Federal and state prison records listed Circle Bear’s race as Native
American. A spokesperson for the Cheyenne River Sioux tribal
government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An attorney who represented Circle Bear also did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
Circle Bear’s pregnancy made her high risk for the virus, but she
would not be considered priority for release under the Bureau of
Prisons and justice department guidelines on releasing prisoners to
home confinement to help stop the spread. She was already on a
ventilator when an expanded home confinement memo was handed down by
the justice department in early April.
William Barr, the US attorney general, ordered the increased use of
home confinement and the expedited release of eligible inmates by the
Bureau of Prisons, with priority for those at low- or medium-security
prisons, starting with virus hotspots. Under the Bureau of Prisons
guidelines, the agency is prioritizing the release of those who have
served half of their sentence or inmates who have 18 months or less
left and who served at least 25% of their time.
_The Associated Press contributed to this report._
_Lois Beckett is a senior reporter covering gun policy, criminal
justice and the far right in the United States. Twitter @loisbeckett
[[link removed]]. Click here
[[link removed]]
for Lois Beckett's public key._
Here at the Lakota People’s Law Project, we’ve seen a lot and
worked hard to address a variety of important issues over the past 15
years — among them criminal justice reform for American Indians.
Now, in the coronavirus era, this problem has raised its ugly head
again: a 30 year-old woman from my tribal nation, the Cheyenne River
Sioux Tribe, died in federal custody in a Texas prison on Tuesday,
Apr, 21, just three weeks after giving birth. The cause of her death?
COVID-19.
How is it that one of our tribal members was taken from my homelands
into custody by South Dakota state officials bent on ignoring the
threat of coronavirus, and then shipped to a prison in another state
that also ignores science — Texas — where she contracted a
preventable disease that killed her?
At no point in this process did Andrea have the power to protect
herself — an age-old crisis here in Indian Country: lack of
sovereignty. Who will someday explain to Andrea’s infant child how
and why her mother died in the hands of the enemy?
For a fuller picture of the circumstances surrounding Andrea’s
premature and avoidable death, I encourage you to READ THIS CHILLING
ARTICLE IN _THE GUARDIAN_
[[link removed]].
Andrea’s tragic story shows why your attention to our Indigenous
communities is so important. In the coming days, the Lakota People’s
Law Project media team will work with journalists to ensure they have
support on the ground as they uncover what happened to Ms. Circle
Bear. Moreover, we will redouble our efforts to resist willful
ignorance in states like South Dakota and Texas in the face of this
pandemic, and we'll work in every way we can to strengthen tribal
nations. We live in poverty and we are vulnerable, but we know how to
fight.
Please stay with us. With courage, everything is possible.
_Wopila_ — My gratitude for your solidarity,
Madonna Thunder Hawk
Cheyenne River Organizer
The Lakota People's Law Project
Lakota People's Law Project
547 South 7th Street #149
Bismarck, ND 58504-5859
The Lakota People's Law Project is part of the Romero Institute, a
nonprofit 501(c)(3) law and policy center. All donations are
tax-deductible.
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