PROFILE
ACLU Lawsuit and Correctional Officer Disclose "Borderline Criminal" Conditions of Butner Prison
By Bella Smith
Photo By Cornell Watson for NPR
June 4, 2020. Durham, NC.
On May 26, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and 11 incarcerated people filed a class action lawsuit against FCC-Butner Prison, citing unconstitutional living conditions and deliberate indifference of prison leadership amid a rampant COVID-19 outbreak. In the week following the filing, the ACLU announced the deaths of five more inmates, raising the death toll to 13. The first correctional officer died on Wednesday.
A Butner Correctional Officer, who will remain anonymous, contacted INDY Week to further discuss the prison's nightmarish conditions.
At the time of the filing, only 450 inmates out of 4,438 were reported to have been tested. A startling 318 of those inmates tested positive.
The ACLU has identified Butner as an especially at-risk federal prison due to its irresponsible overcrowding, medically vulnerable population, and lack of medical resources necessary to handle the outbreak. In the absence of adequate Bureau of Prisons (BOP) leadership, Butner’s fall to COVID-19 was predictable and inevitable. The ACLU demands that Butner immediately release enough incarcerated people such that those who do remain in prison can follow social distancing orders and be adequately cared for.
“It’s our position that failing to release people or transfer people to home confinement; failing to arrange things in a manner, in the facility, such that people can actually socially distance; failure to test people; failure to quarantine them and isolate them; failure to provide adequate cleaning and disinfection supplies and masks — all of these things are evidence that the respondents here have disregarded the risk and did not take necessary steps to adequately address the risk that is faced by the people who are housed in Butner,” stated ACLU Staff Attorney Maria Morris.
The lawsuit underscores the hazards of Butner’s overcrowded facilities. Though Butner’s maximum occupancy is just under 4,000, over 400 additional inmates are crammed into the communal living facilities. Inmates in the low-security buildings sleep in large rooms, called ‘dormitories,’ where 70 to 160 men are divided into 3-person open cubicles. These inmates share a small number of toilets, desktop computers, and phones. Efforts to abide by social distancing guidelines are made utterly futile by closely packed bunk beds and overcrowded bathrooms.
“Inmates were falling out and having to be taken to the outside hospital. Every housing unit at the [Low-Security Correctional Institute] has multiple cases in it,” one Butner correctional officer explains. "Some units are like a nursing home in that they house old and sick people.” Packed together and immobile, men at Butner await infection like sitting ducks.
Since correctional officers move between dormitories and buildings and incarcerated men must partake in communal prison day jobs, including handling food, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains unrestricted. Initial efforts to quarantine COVID-19-positive men were later disregarded because “so many people [are] popping hot for it now, it’s hard to do,” reasons one correctional officer. The officer further explains, “They haven’t tested the [whole] population, so it’s always someone in the units that has it and is spreading it.”
Beyond the overcrowding, Butner prison is home to a very vulnerable population because sick inmates are routinely transferred to Butner from other federal prisons. The Butner Federal Medical Center (FMC) specializes in oncology, hospice, intensive mental health care, and ambulatory services. Inmates nationwide are sent to Butner if they need comprehensive medical care or have chronic medical conditions.
Morris notes that common chronic conditions of the Butner population often overlap heavily with those listed by the CDC as increasing risk of severe COVID-19 illness. She explains, “These are the people who are most vulnerable, people with diabetes, hypertension, cardiac disorders, immune disorders.” Incarcerated people at Butner are disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19.
When considering the unique vulnerability of this prison population, BOP’s lack of preparation grows more inexcusable. Butner has not tested the overwhelming majority of its residents. Of the 450 publicly announced to have been tested, a disturbing 71% were positive.
BOP leadership has also failed to provide its staff with testing.
“They e-mailed us a list of places in the community to go get tested at,” reports the correctional officer in contact with INDY. Multiple staff members have contracted COVID-19. Charlynn Phillips, a 51-year-old correctional officer, passed away on Wednesday after contracting the virus.
The number of inmate cases remains unknown due to the lack of testing and BOP transparency. Even Butner staff remain in the dark.
“They won’t tell us the number,” reports the correctional officer, “I’ll tell you the BOP’s numbers are way lower than the actual ones. Back when they were telling us, the number they told us was always higher than what they told the public.”
The officer continues, “When they started getting high, communication stopped.”
For these reasons, the ACLU and 11 incarcerated people have charged BOP leadership with violating the 8th Amendment and doing so with deliberate indifference. The lawsuit outlines how negligent BOP leadership has “deprived [incarcerated people] of their reasonable safety and healthcare,” shares Morris, in a fashion that is “cruel and unusual.” If the entity that is incarcerating people is failing to provide the necessary resources to stay safe from COVID-19, then the entity is in direction violation of the 8th Amendment.
The lawsuit goes a step further, asserting that Complex Warden Thomas Scarantino, BOP Director Micheal Carvajal, and BOP Medical Director Jeffrey Allen acted with deliberate indifference. These defendants, the ACLU argues, knew of the substantial risk of COVID-19 and disregarded it through stark, continual inaction.
The complaint asks that BOP release Butner residents through two pathways: compassionate release and transfer to home confinement.
Compassionate release is a process through which incarcerated people may earn immediate early release on the basis of extraordinary circumstances such as a pandemic. The BOP can expedite the compassionate release of its residents by supporting individual motions. However, the BOP has stalled on processing motions altogether. Countless inmates, whose release motions are left unprocessed, must wait for 30 days before they can bypass the BOP and take further action with their sentencing court through the First Step Act. Many Butner inmates in deteriorating health conditions cannot wait 30 days.
Transfer to home confinement is another avenue for releasing incarcerated people. Since this type of transition does not take a person out of federal custody, it can be processed by the local district court, as opposed to the inmate’s original sentencing court. The BOP Attorney General has asked that the BOP prioritize this process. This has not yet materialized.
A Butner Correctional Officer, who will remain anonymous, contacted INDY Week to further discuss the prison's nightmarish conditions.
At the time of the filing, only 450 inmates out of 4,438 were reported to have been tested. A startling 318 of those inmates tested positive.
The ACLU has identified Butner as an especially at-risk federal prison due to its irresponsible overcrowding, medically vulnerable population, and lack of medical resources necessary to handle the outbreak. In the absence of adequate Bureau of Prisons (BOP) leadership, Butner’s fall to COVID-19 was predictable and inevitable. The ACLU demands that Butner immediately release enough incarcerated people such that those who do remain in prison can follow social distancing orders and be adequately cared for.
“It’s our position that failing to release people or transfer people to home confinement; failing to arrange things in a manner, in the facility, such that people can actually socially distance; failure to test people; failure to quarantine them and isolate them; failure to provide adequate cleaning and disinfection supplies and masks — all of these things are evidence that the respondents here have disregarded the risk and did not take necessary steps to adequately address the risk that is faced by the people who are housed in Butner,” stated ACLU Staff Attorney Maria Morris.
The lawsuit underscores the hazards of Butner’s overcrowded facilities. Though Butner’s maximum occupancy is just under 4,000, over 400 additional inmates are crammed into the communal living facilities. Inmates in the low-security buildings sleep in large rooms, called ‘dormitories,’ where 70 to 160 men are divided into 3-person open cubicles. These inmates share a small number of toilets, desktop computers, and phones. Efforts to abide by social distancing guidelines are made utterly futile by closely packed bunk beds and overcrowded bathrooms.
“Inmates were falling out and having to be taken to the outside hospital. Every housing unit at the [Low-Security Correctional Institute] has multiple cases in it,” one Butner correctional officer explains. "Some units are like a nursing home in that they house old and sick people.” Packed together and immobile, men at Butner await infection like sitting ducks.
Since correctional officers move between dormitories and buildings and incarcerated men must partake in communal prison day jobs, including handling food, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains unrestricted. Initial efforts to quarantine COVID-19-positive men were later disregarded because “so many people [are] popping hot for it now, it’s hard to do,” reasons one correctional officer. The officer further explains, “They haven’t tested the [whole] population, so it’s always someone in the units that has it and is spreading it.”
Beyond the overcrowding, Butner prison is home to a very vulnerable population because sick inmates are routinely transferred to Butner from other federal prisons. The Butner Federal Medical Center (FMC) specializes in oncology, hospice, intensive mental health care, and ambulatory services. Inmates nationwide are sent to Butner if they need comprehensive medical care or have chronic medical conditions.
Morris notes that common chronic conditions of the Butner population often overlap heavily with those listed by the CDC as increasing risk of severe COVID-19 illness. She explains, “These are the people who are most vulnerable, people with diabetes, hypertension, cardiac disorders, immune disorders.” Incarcerated people at Butner are disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19.
When considering the unique vulnerability of this prison population, BOP’s lack of preparation grows more inexcusable. Butner has not tested the overwhelming majority of its residents. Of the 450 publicly announced to have been tested, a disturbing 71% were positive.
BOP leadership has also failed to provide its staff with testing.
“They e-mailed us a list of places in the community to go get tested at,” reports the correctional officer in contact with INDY. Multiple staff members have contracted COVID-19. Charlynn Phillips, a 51-year-old correctional officer, passed away on Wednesday after contracting the virus.
The number of inmate cases remains unknown due to the lack of testing and BOP transparency. Even Butner staff remain in the dark.
“They won’t tell us the number,” reports the correctional officer, “I’ll tell you the BOP’s numbers are way lower than the actual ones. Back when they were telling us, the number they told us was always higher than what they told the public.”
The officer continues, “When they started getting high, communication stopped.”
For these reasons, the ACLU and 11 incarcerated people have charged BOP leadership with violating the 8th Amendment and doing so with deliberate indifference. The lawsuit outlines how negligent BOP leadership has “deprived [incarcerated people] of their reasonable safety and healthcare,” shares Morris, in a fashion that is “cruel and unusual.” If the entity that is incarcerating people is failing to provide the necessary resources to stay safe from COVID-19, then the entity is in direction violation of the 8th Amendment.
The lawsuit goes a step further, asserting that Complex Warden Thomas Scarantino, BOP Director Micheal Carvajal, and BOP Medical Director Jeffrey Allen acted with deliberate indifference. These defendants, the ACLU argues, knew of the substantial risk of COVID-19 and disregarded it through stark, continual inaction.
The complaint asks that BOP release Butner residents through two pathways: compassionate release and transfer to home confinement.
Compassionate release is a process through which incarcerated people may earn immediate early release on the basis of extraordinary circumstances such as a pandemic. The BOP can expedite the compassionate release of its residents by supporting individual motions. However, the BOP has stalled on processing motions altogether. Countless inmates, whose release motions are left unprocessed, must wait for 30 days before they can bypass the BOP and take further action with their sentencing court through the First Step Act. Many Butner inmates in deteriorating health conditions cannot wait 30 days.
Transfer to home confinement is another avenue for releasing incarcerated people. Since this type of transition does not take a person out of federal custody, it can be processed by the local district court, as opposed to the inmate’s original sentencing court. The BOP Attorney General has asked that the BOP prioritize this process. This has not yet materialized.
Bella Smith for INDY Week.
It never got published because our Editor-in-Chief was involved in this
grotesque public scandal, communication broke down, and a more senior staffer
took on the story.
It never got published because our Editor-in-Chief was involved in this
grotesque public scandal, communication broke down, and a more senior staffer
took on the story.