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John,

We’ve been here before. We have seen the devastating consequences of
COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons. Yet, nearly two years after the start of
the pandemic, more than half of the women currently incarcerated at
Danbury Federal Institution Camp in Connecticut have tested positive for
the virus in the past week and are being denied proper access to medical
care.^1 

And this is just what’s being reported, John. We’re hearing
from sources incarcerated at Danbury Camp that ALL of the women are
currently infected. The facilities are on total lockdown with zero access
to phones, computers, the law or leisure library, and classrooms. The
original 13 women who tested positive for COVID-19 have been moved back
into the general population, and people are suffering from body aches,
cough, fever, and potential pneumonia. 

This is a humanitarian crisis. The lack of transparency and inhumane
treatment of women incarcerated at Danbury is of the utmost concern.
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. 

This is why in partnership with The National Council of Incarcerated and
Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, we’re calling on the Bureau of
Federal Prisons to release all medically vulnerable people to finish their
sentences on home confinement immediately.

[ [link removed] ]sign our petition: demand women are released from danbury today

John, 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, and can serve as a crucial
harm reduction step toward our goal of ending racialized mass
incarceration. 

{First name}, 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.^2 In fact, home
confinement under the CARES Act has had a 99% success rate.^3 

This is just 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. 

The Bureau of Prisons has the authority to release more medically
vulnerable people to finish their sentences safely through home
confinement under the CARES Act. And yet only about 5 percent of the
people in federal prison have been granted release to home confinement.^4 

We need action now. 

[ [link removed] ]people belong at home not in cages

John, this isn’t the first time women incarcerated at Danbury
have experienced a COVID-19 outbreak or inhumane treatment. 

In December of 2020, 34 out of the 50 women incarcerated at the
minimum-security Danbury Camp facility tested positive for COVID-19. And
though isolation is critical to curbing the spread of the virus, women
were forced into makeshift quarters in the prisons’ visiting rooms where
they didn't have beds, showers, or access to important medications and
prescriptions. Some women were so sick they couldn’t eat or hardly move.
People experienced panic attacks and dehydration so severe that they were
sent to the hospital.^5 This is unconscionable, and it is happening yet
again. 

John, it’s been over a year since that outbreak, and once again
women at Danbury are being exposed to COVID-19, denied isolation, tests,
and protection.

We can’t sit and wait while people’s lives are at risk. 

[ [link removed] ]help us stop the outbreak at danbury and free people now!

Until Justice is Real,

Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Megan, Ernie, Palika, Ariel, Madison,
Trevor, Erick, Ana, Kristiana, McKayla and the Color Of Change team 

 

References: 

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