“When the COVID outbreak happened, she should have been released. She was high-risk, and she was pregnant. But instead, they transferred her from jail to prison. It’s a totally avoidable tragedy,” says the founder of a social-justice consulting firm
Photo: Wang Lunyi/EyeEm/Getty Images A month ago, Andrea Circle Bear gave birth while on a ventilator after catching the coronavirus behind bars. On Tuesday, the 30-year-old died, making her the first woman in federal prison to be killed by COVID-19, according to press releases on the Bureau of Prisons’ website.
As the coronavirus continues to ravage the U.S., prisons and jails are among the worst places to be. People are packed into cells and dorms where they sleep mere feet apart without proper access to masks, hand sanitizer, or medical care. These facilities are hotbeds for an outbreak, and in the jails on Rikers Island, the disease is spreading eight times faster than in New York City, the coronavirus epicenter of the world.
On April 1, Circle Bear had a C-section. Three days later, she tested positive for the coronavirus. A BOP spokesman said the agency would not answer questions about the baby’s condition for privacy reasons. Criminal-justice advocates have been calling for jails and prisons to release people behind bars to help stop the virus’ spread, especially those who are elderly, have health issues, or who are locked up for nonviolent offenses. While some states have taken action, the BOP has dragged its heels on letting people out, and a federal judge called the release process “Kafkaesque.”
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