Public Comment 5/27/2020
Requesting responses:
1. Please share the most recent results of antibody testing at ECCF. I know ICE stropped you from sharing the data about their prisoners but what about County and Marshal’s inmates? In the last update I could find from a month ago, 70% of ICE prisoners held in dorms and 30% of the cell block populations who had been tested were infected. We should be open and transparent to residents what the ongoing counts look like.
2. Two of our inmates at ECCF have died in the past few weeks. Why have their names not been released? What is the policy for releasing the names of those who die while in County custody. Please do not tell me it’s an active investigation. That’s never covered the names of the deceased previously. If the Prosecutor will not share the information then the County Administration should instruct the ECCF staff to release the name. If you won’t do that please provide the legal reasoning why.
3. Since you haven’t provided the actual financial details of how the exact expenses per inmate were arrived at such that the ICE contract is revenue neutral, I’m being forced to try to reconstruct it off publicly available data. The recently renewed agreement with Union County I think listed a price of $98/day for a, presumably, criminal prisoner. There was some reporting that a few years ago ICE was paying $108/day for civil detainees. ICE’s contracts page lists a rate of $105/day. What is the current rate? If it’s more than $98/day what makes holding a civil detainee in a dorm setting more expensive than holding a criminal detainee in a cell block?
I urge all the Freeholders to vote in support of the Resolution to call for the release of those imprisoned by ICE. It’s the right thing to do, even more so given the public health crisis. As you have seen from people attending the meetings, outreach to you individually, petitions, etc there is wide ranging support for this position. It is the morally and ethically responsible thing to do and is also the only reasonable response to the need to depopulate the facility to allow any amount of the social distancing being recommended by County, State, and Federal health officials.
Thank you.
