As coronavirus cases continue to increase in prisons and detention centers across the country, a second outbreak has not been mitigated at the California Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) facilities, where countless young people have tested positive for Covid-19 .
On January 4, the department reported that there were 17 young people who were tested positive. In total, at least 119 young prisoners out of 750 young people in state custody have tested positive for the virus since June. Defenders suspect the real numbers are even higher, claiming that there were 40 new cases in December alone, according to the Juvenile and Criminal Justice Center, a non-profit organization that provides assistance and policy analysis to reduce incarceration.
The department did not provide updated information. nor has it enacted widespread security measures, according to Renee Menart, a communications and policy analyst at the Juvenile and Criminal Justice Center, who leaves the parents of children trapped in the dark and forces imprisoned children to bypass the infection on their own.
It is also unclear how many of those who contracted the virus have fully recovered and what medical care is being provided.
“We saw a real reluctance to introduce more precautions and more guidance,” said Menart, noting that information about infection and recovery rates often changes on the agency’s website without explanation.
Prisoners are particularly vulnerable to the impact of the virus, with reports that one in five incarcerated Americans has contracted coronavirus, and that prisons have high mortality rates. Israel Villa, the deputy director of the California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice (CAYCJ), said the centers have the same physical layout as state prisons, with youths housed in multi-person units. But while most state and local jurisdictions have moved to release adults from prisons and jails, incarcerated youths are often the last to be considered for early release.
“I received a call from a mother whose son is a DJJ. Apparently, a child in the unit was sick, so they tested everyone in the unit and eight tested positive, ”said Villa. He said the mother’s son was forced to be quarantined in solitary confinement, without a blanket or access to food. The arrested son said he had received no medical attention.
In March, the juvenile justice department suspended visitation to family and friends, further reducing the already limited contact that young people have with their loved ones. Now, Villa said the agency does not consistently notify parents when their children are infected. The mother Villa spoke to only heard of her son’s infection after he was forced to quarantine. “She hasn’t spoken to her son in several weeks,” said Villa. “So you can only imagine how the parents are feeling.”
“It is extremely worrying that family members are placed in an advocacy role,” said Menart. “If family members are limited [to] just discovering directly from your child on the premises, so much information is lost. “
Although young people are less at risk of serious Covid effects, some of those in custody, the vast majority of whom are black and Latino, have underlying health problems, such as asthma, which can increase the severity and impact of an infection. Chronic health conditions, stimulated in part by systemic divestment in communities of color, contribute to the higher rates of infection and death in Latin and black patients.
This is the second outbreak in California’s youth detention facility, the first of which occurred during the summer months. Both outbreaks, as well as all those that occur inside prisons and detention centers, result from the virus being brought in from outside, usually by officials and prison officers.
A former DJJ employee, who remained nameless due to the sensitive nature of the matter, confirmed that many employees do not wear masks or other personal protective equipment, and former colleagues were told that if they did not have a fever within 10 days of the presentation symptoms that they could return to work.
DJJ categorically denies these claims. Mike Sicilia, the deputy press secretary for juvenile justice in the California Department of Corrections, told the Guardian that employees are required to wear masks near children, that young people with a positive test are clinically isolated for 10 days and that those symptoms are treated in the ward.
“DJJ’s top priority is the safety and well-being of young people and the team,” said Sicilia.
In January last year, before the start of the pandemic, Democratic governor Gavin Newsom approved plans to close the facility, supplanting the state system with greater dependence on local and municipal prisons. The closings will occur in stages and the total disassembly will probably take years.
The unnamed former employee suggested that the managers’ response to the virus was a reaction to plans to close the department. “We don’t know if we’re going to stay open and we don’t know if we’re going to close, but then we think, ‘Oh, let’s keep our numbers. Let’s keep our dollars, which are our customers, our young people. “