By Rich Schapiro - NBC News
Waylon Young Bird, a 52-year-old federal inmate with severe kidney disease, did not give up after his request for compassionate release, at risk of COVID-19, was denied in June.
He wrote
a letter to the judge that same week asking for clemency
.
Then another one or two later.
“I am writing to you again because this morning, around 10 o'clock, an inmate next to me said, 'He's here, boss,” Young Bird, a native American from South Dakota, said in his letter.
"It's official now: the first case of coronavirus is here at the Springfield, Missouri medical center," he added.
Young Bird had been incarcerated at the Springfield facility since September 2019 with an 11-year sentence for distributing methamphetamine.
The institution houses approximately 840 inmates with serious medical problems.
As the summer wore on and the coronavirus raged across the Midwest, Young Bird continued to send letters to Judge Roberto Lange.
[Follow all our coverage on the coronavirus pandemic]
On June 14, he wrote that he feared the virus would soon begin to spread, that
he did not want to die behind bars, and that he wanted to see his sister, who has disabilities, and their four children
.
"They need me," she begged him.
On August 7, she told the judge that she learned that her "mother aunt," Joann Young Bird, had died and that she wanted to attend her funeral.
And finally, in a letter dated October 28, he wrote that dozens of inmates in his unit had tested positive but, until then, he was one of the lucky ones.
"I'm afraid you may already be infected when you read this letter," he
wrote, "please as a compassionate judge, can you help me in this situation?"
Young Bird tested positive for the virus the next day.
He died exactly one week later, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Massive COVID-19 infection reported in Arizona jail
Aug. 5, 202000: 28
"It's very difficult for me to understand what happened," said one of his daughters, Casina Brewer, 26.
"I feel like they ignored it," he said.
Three other inmates at the Springfield facility died on the same day
as Young Bird.
At least seven have lost their lives to the virus this month alone, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Such an outbreak at a federal institution housing seriously ill prisoners presents a chilling scenario, experts say.
[This immigrant decided to stay in jail to avoid ICE. He was killed by COVID-19]
"We have very vulnerable people in one place, and my experience is that prison medical centers do not operate with the same level of infection control as community hospitals," said Homer Venters, former chief medical officer of the city's prison system. from New York.
"There can be devastating consequences
,
" he
warned.
Venters, who now works as a consultant, has inspected 18 state and federal prisons since the pandemic broke out.
Springfield's was not among them.
The specialist said it is essential that prison medical centers can isolate infected patients and continue to provide them with a high level of care.
However, it found that prisons often have little control over diagnosing COVID-19 in inmates and staff, and do not provide the proper training and personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to ensure an environment safe.
“These are things that were on everyone's radar in community hospitals in April, but my experience is that
correctional hospitals even today do not function with the high level of infection control
and the PPE they need to protect patients from high risk, ”Venters added.
Massive spread of coronavirus in a women's prison in Texas
July 22, 202000: 27
Attorney General William Barr ordered the federal prison system this spring to promote the use of home detention and expedite the release of inmates who are at high risk from COVID-19.
The Bureau of Prisons is supposed to give priority to inmates who have served half their sentence or inmates who have 18 months or less left and who have already completed at least 25% of their sentence time.
Since the start of the pandemic,
the agency has released 17,530 inmates in house arrest
.
Federal inmates can also be released from prison early through what is known as compassionate release, which is authorized by a judge and amounts to a reduction of the sentence to the time served.
But prisoners must first submit an application to the director of the institution.
After a principal denies the request or 30 days go by without a response, the inmate may submit a petition to the judge in charge of his case.
According to data compiled by the informational website Marshall Project, federal prison directors
have denied or ignored more than 98% of requests for compassionate release
.
"Most of the people who are at high risk in prison are still in prison," Venters said.
US breaks new record for daily coronavirus cases: more than 185,000
Nov. 20, 202000: 19
Young Bird was not the only Springfield inmate to die from COVID-19 after a request to be released from the virus-affected facility was denied.
At least two other inmates who also suffered from kidney disease, Torrick Lyles and David Cross, died after their requests for release were denied, according to court documents.
The Bureau of Prisons said it was unable to comment on specific inmates and did not respond directly to questions about the coronavirus outbreak at the Springfield facility.
But the agency said it has taken a series of steps to mitigate the spread of the virus within its institutions and has been "a leader in the correctional system in the pandemic."
A spokesman for the prison medical center in Springfield did not respond to a request for comment.
[A judge denies Genaro García Luna's freedom due to COVID-19 because "there is soap and water" in prison]
Young Bird was arrested in March 2018 when, during a traffic stop on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation,
officers found 10 grams of methamphetamine hidden in his sock in eight sachets.
A federal jury convicted him of one count of conspiracy to distribute and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Young Bird first submitted a compassionate release request in November 2019, just two months after his arrival at the prison medical center in Springfield.
He cited a number of health problems, including kidney failure, congestive heart failure, diabetes and asthma, court documents show.
Young Bird was on dialysis for his kidney disease
, his heart was beating at half the normal rate and one of his fingers was amputated due to diabetes, the documents say.
The director denied his first request on the grounds that his health condition was not terminal and that his life expectancy was greater than 18 months.
As the COVID-19 crisis worsened, Young Bird petitioned the judge who had sentenced him.
In his court motion, Young Bird's attorney argued that his serious health conditions, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, constituted an "extraordinary and compelling reason" to reduce his sentence to time served or impose a period of home confinement.
By this time, Young Bird had written a letter to his hometown newspaper
apologizing to the people of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
who he claimed had been affected by their drug and alcohol use.
"He was addicted to methamphetamine and alcohol, a legal drug," Young Bird wrote.
“It is difficult to get out of both (addictions), there in the free world.
I have disappointed many of my people and carry a lot of shame and regret, "he said.
Haste to launch the vaccine against COVID-19, could it attack the population?
Nov. 25, 202002: 38
The government opposed his release, saying, according to court documents, that he still posed a danger to society.
Judge Lange ultimately denied the request
, saying it was unclear to what extent Young Bird's life was in danger from the virus and that the Bureau of Prisons had taken precautions "to protect him and his companions."
When contacted for comment after Young Bird's death, Lange said a change in circumstances would have made him more willing to release the ailing inmate.
"If he had served a little longer and had a little more penalty, he probably would have looked at his compassionate release motion differently," Lange told NBC News.
The situation was also very complicated, Lange said, as the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe had exiled Young Bird from their home because of the conviction.
"This person could literally be on the street, in need of dialysis, excluded from their community of origin," Lange said.
"So, my goodness, what can be done in this case?"
"I am very saddened by his death," added the judge.
"It is terrible how the virus has affected inmates in both federal and state custody, and I only wish the best for Mr. Young Bird's family," he said.
[“I'm a guard in an ICE prison. My fear every night is to bring COVID-19 to my daughter and wife ”]
Young Bird wrote Lange a total of 17 letters
as of mid-March.
However, the prolific letter writer never mentioned what he did shortly before his arrest.
Following her sister's death, Young Bird hosted a grand dinner in the town of Dupree in South Dakota to honor her memory.
The event ended with an extraordinary act of generosity, her family members said.
"She bought blankets, sweaters, socks, dream catchers, whatever you can think of," said her aunt Jo Lynn Little Wounded.
“He just passed them on to the homeless people in the community.
It was something I will never forget, "he stressed.
After Young Bird's death, Little Wounded wanted to do the same to honor him, but infections from the virus were increasing in North Dakota.
There would be no big dinner, no gifts.
About 100 family members gathered for a graveside service
last Saturday, in which three singers from a nearby Indian reservation sang a prayer before Young Bird's body was buried.
