Good Afternoon,
I am writing to share the Office of the Corrections Ombuds (OCO) updates related to the COVID concerns in the Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities received by the OCO. The DOC facilities continue to see reductions in cases and people in isolation and quarantine, but there is still a ways to go. The OCO continues to receive COVID-related concerns, though the number of concerns received is down from weeks past. Concerns about isolation and quarantine continue to be the top area of concern by far.
Our OCO staff conducted fewer staff visits over the past two weeks due to conflicts with the ability to get to the sites as frequently; however, we were able to conduct several site visits and staff spoke directly with many incarcerated individuals. As has been the case with most of our facility visits, our team was able to address many concerns directly while at the facilities, some of which are listed below. They also were able to witness and confirm some areas of concern that were consistent with the concerns received in our office. We followed up and discussed the concerns directly with Headquarters in an effort to expedite review of some of these very important issues. I have listed the main issues below that we have focused our efforts on this week.
We will continue our facility visits, working with the concerns received to the extent we are able, and to share what we are able to in our updates.
COVID-RELATED CONCERNS DATA
The following data is the total for the COVID-related concerns received by the OCO in the past several weeks in the facilities with the data broken out by the types of concerns. The data reflect concerns received by the OCO through hotline calls directly from incarcerated individuals, complaints received through the OCO website, and emails. The following are snapshots of the concerns we have received as of today.
COVID-RELATED CONCERNS DATA
The following data is the total for the COVID-related concerns received by the OCO in the past several weeks in the facilities with the data broken out by the types of concerns. The data reflect concerns received by the OCO through hotline calls directly from incarcerated individuals, complaints received through the OCO website, and emails. The following are snapshots of the concerns we have received as of today.
Data by Concern - The following table divides the concerns by category of concern:
Data by facility – The following table divides the concerns by facility:
OCO ACTIONS
The OCO is attempting to respond to as many of the concerns raised as possible, as quickly as possible, with our very small staff. While we are limited in what we are able to do by statute, the OCO staff continues to work on issues related to specific individuals in the facilities as they arise. The following are a few examples of just some of the things the OCO staff have acted on in approximately the past week. This is not the entire list of cases worked on by the OCO staff; rather, it is representative of the types of issues the staff has been working on related to COVID. In addition to the COVID-related cases, the OCO staff is also continuing to work on non-COVID related concerns as well which are not represented by the following examples.
- During an OCO visit to Washington Corrections Center OCO staff received concerns that certain individuals had been on quarantine over 48 days. OCO staff raised the concern with the Superintendent in order for the situation to be addressed.
- OCO staff were able to confirm that most of individuals from TRU at Monroe that were temporarily housed in WSR B unit have been moved back to TRU. This had been an issue the OCO staff discussed with DOC recently.
- The OCO received a complaint that an incarcerated person at one of the facilities may be in a mental health crisis after being inside for weeks during quarantine. The OCO staff communicated often with a family member and provided self-advocacy information related to conditions of confinement in the facility. The OCO staff also communicated directly with the Associate Superintendent responsible for the living units and worked to facilitate a conversation between the Associate Superintendent and the family member.
- The OCO received a complaint that incarcerated people in units at Airway Heights were not able to call the OCO hotline during COVID isolation/quarantine. The OCO staff worked with the facility to independently confirm that both units are able to successfully place calls to the OCO hotline.
- When the OCO staff last visited Larch Corrections Center (LCC) earlier in February, many incarcerated people asked questions about GRE and work release that the OCO was not able to answer at that time. Last week, the OCO staff completed confidential phone calls with multiple incarcerated individuals at LCC to follow-up on their original concerns, provide self-advocacy information related to their individual complaints and current COVID protocols, and open new cases based on additional information shared during the confidential conversations
- On site at the MSU unit at the Washington Corrections Center for Women, OCO staff were told by the incarcerated individuals that they did not have a scheduled time for people to be able to get water while there were opportunities every day there was opportunity for each tier in other areas to get water two times a day. OCO staff spoke with the DOC staff about the issue and DOC made a schedule for water to be available for them on additional days.
- During a site visit, the OCO staff were told by incarcerated individuals that they were not receiving their COVID test results. The OCO staff spoke with the supervisor who told the OCO staff they would be available if requested by the incarcerated individual. The OCO staff requested that information be communicated to the residents.
While we are not able to get a full resolution to all of the issues submitted to our office, our staff are making multiple visits to facilities each week to talk directly with incarcerated individuals and are continuing to work on individual cases that are both COVID and non-COVID related.
The OCO statutory grant of authority limits our work to the investigation of issues: We are not able to mandate or require action. For this reason, we engage with DOC to provide them with information on the areas of concern we are identifying and make specific requests for action. We will continue to work on the issues we receive to the extent of our statutory authority to achieve a resolution.
I will be endeavoring to provide regular communications with updates as I have them to share. I am also attaching the most recent messages from DOC Secretary Strange at their request to increase access to this information.
Best,
Sonja Hallum
