Update on the Covid Scare

They kept Tom in quarantine for 11 days. He remained asymptomatic throughout. The other three men had varying degrees of symptoms, but none of them were any worse than a flu.

He went into quarantine on September 20, which was a Monday. I received updates through my contact until that Thursday in which Tom gave a thumbs up sign through the window so that I knew he was okay up until then. After that, I didn't hear anything from Friday until Monday when I got a letter from him. But that letter was written before he knew he got Covid. I didn't hear any updates on his medical status until Tuesday when our prison advocate was finally able to get through to the Unit Manager at the camp. She told him that Tom was still okay. The advocate was also able to confirm that the BOP policy does include providing monoclonal antibody infusions for inmates who contract COVID and might need it. As far as I know, they did not offer it to any of the men that were ill. They all recovered just fine without it, thankfully. It was reassuring to know that they might receive that treatment, but at the same time, I had to wonder if Tom needed it, would we have to fight for it. But, of course, I wouldn't even have known if he needed it because of how they kept him from communicating with anyone outside of the prison.

Those five days were terrifying for me. As I said in my last post, I know that most people survive Covid and all the hype in the media is just meant to scare us so the government can control us, but my heart was screaming that Tom might be one of those one percenters who dies from it. I was scared out of my mind, which is exactly what the media and the government wants. But not knowing anything and the prison staff intentionally, unnecessarily, and cruelly keeping information from me was beyond my comprehension. It's just one more example of how they treat the inmates as if they weren't human, as if they don't have anyone who loves them and cares about what happens to them.

Thankfully, it all turned out alright and he got out of quarantine much sooner than they originally said. I was hopeful that while he was in quarantine, his CARES Act approval would come through and he'd be able to come home right when he got out of quarantine. Since the rule is everyone has to go through quarantine before they get out, it would be reasonable if his quarantine served as his exit quarantine.

But that was not to be. The warden approved his CARES Act request while he was in quarantine, but he did not, and still does not have an exit date. That process there is a long saga.

His case manager told him that after the warden approves him for home confinement, his request then goes to a committee in DC or a "Central Office" for approval. But our advocate was telling me that the Warden has the final decision authority to approve the requests and it does NOT go to another committee for approval.

I found a memo that confirms what the advocate had been telling me. It is a DOJ/BOP memo dated November 16, 2020 from Andrew Matevousian (Assistant Director Correctional Programs Division), David Paul (Assistant Director Reentry Services Division), and M.D. Smith (Health and Services Division). The very first paragraph states: "Please note, home confinement referrals related to the CARES Act will no longer routinely be sent to Central Office for review. Wardens are the final decision authority for these referrals."

So WHY is the staff at the prison telling the inmates that there is another layer of approval that must be obtained? The truth of the matter is that the CARES Act referrals are to be sent to the Regional Reentry Management office and they are the ones who set the release date and assign the inmate to a halfway house which will supervise the inmate's home confinement.

I called the RRM office to see if I could get any information concerning Tom's referral. The woman who answered was a typical government employee, not there to be helpful. She told me she could give me some general information, but couldn't tell me anything about Tom specifically. So through questioning her (because she didn't offer anything), I was able to confirm that I had reached the correct office and they do, indeed, receive the home confinement referrals. I asked how long does it usually take. She said they have 30-60 days to respond. I asked, but does it actually take that long. She repeated her 30-60 day answer. I asked had they received Tom's referral because I wanted to make sure it hadn't slipped through the cracks somewhere. If they hadn't received it, Tom would need to go to Alvarez to see why it wasn't sent. But the woman at RRM confirmed they do have it in their system. She would not tell me when they received it.

So just because they have 30-60 days doesn't mean it takes that long. Our advocate has repeatedly told me that they usually only take a couple of weeks. It's been 17 days since Tom was approved. So assuming the RRM office received it shortly after that, we're past the two week mark. So hopefully, we'll get a release date soon.