VCBR Coronavirus Outbreak Prompts Virginia’s National Guard to Take Action
Brandon Smith October 26, 2020Press Coverage, stories, Top Stories, updates
A Virginia shadow prison is currently in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak, and many people locked within the facility are fearful for their health.
As of October 14th, twenty-two “residents” and six staff members at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation have tested positive for the coronavirus. The National Guard was called in by the governor to provide tests after an outbreak of fifteen cases occurred in one of the facility’s living units. There are numerous firsthand accounts suggesting that the facility did not take proper precautions prior to the outbreak, and the few precautions the facility did take were poorly implemented. Sources inside the facility claim that the masks provided to people in the facility do not fit correctly and are poorly made, causing them to break apart after just one wash. Furthermore, those same people have complained of guards failing to wear their masks correctly or consistently. However, any mention to the guards of this fact will promptly be met with disciplinary action in the form of an “observation note,” a written note from the facilities staff noting an incarcerated person’s good or bad behavior. Essentially, if someone were to question a guard about their mask, they are liable to be written up for “bad behavior.”
The facility lacks sufficient medical supplies and a capable medical staff. VCBR only has one medical doctor on staff, and the doctor does not even work in the facility full-time. The medical staff consists almost entirely of licensed practical nurses, who are significantly less qualified than registered nurses, and their assistants; and they often fail to perform their jobs up to par. Temperatures taken by nurses have been recorded at as low as 93.3, low enough to be classified as hypothermic. However, nurses will not re-take a resident’s temperature unless questioned, which negates the effectiveness of temperature checks altogether. Similar negligence has been shown in the testing and quarantine of the people imprisoned at the facility. The facility groups people into “pods” to help slow the spread of the virus, but the manner in which they go about utilizing the pods to combat COVID is exceedingly irresponsible. After testing positive for the virus, the shadow prisoner is moved to the pod with the highest rate of infection. However, not everyone in that pod tested positive for the virus, thus the administration is deliberately putting those who are healthy within that pod at a greater risk of exposure. Furthermore, those who were tested and moved to the quarantine pod stayed within their pod for five days while awaiting their results, yet the facility opted not to re-test those who were in the same pod and exposed to the virus during that time span. Upon re-testing on the 21st, Dr.Brown, the facility’s one medical doctor, told nurses that if any pod had more than five to six positive tests to send those cases back to their pods, further mixing positive and negative cases. The facility does not have the space to implement adequate social distancing and quarantining standards, and they are knowingly endangering the lives of everyone inside.
The shadow prison has used the outbreak as an excuse to impose many injustices upon the facility’s “residents.” The facility confines people to their pods for obscene amounts of time, rarely allowing them to leave. They have also slowed the delivery of mail and ceased the delivery of packages to those detained within the facility, despite there being no evidence that the coronavirus is being spread through the mail system. Since people within the facility cannot receive packages from outside vendors, shadow prisoners have essentially no method of getting stamps to send out letters. Additionally, VCBR is no longer facilitating the transfer of funds into people’s phone accounts, meaning they have virtually no way of making outgoing phone calls. The facility is limiting people to one five minute phone call weekly, essentially their only contact with the outside world.
The degree of negligence shown by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Service (DBHDS) throughout this outbreak at their “not-a-prison” prison is mortifying. Not only is VCBR ill-equipped to handle an outbreak of this magnitude, they have also shown a blatant disregard for the health and safety of the human beings locked within the facility — many of whom are elderly, have underlying health conditions, and/or are African American; putting them at a higher risk of succumbing to the virus. Unless serious changes are made within the facility soon, a full-blown outbreak could be imminent, potentially leading to many lost lives.
