Donovan Deaths: COVID-19 Outbreak Leaves 18 dead. Three Were Found In Their Cells.

Speaker 1: 00:00 Across California, more than 200 people have died in state prisons of COVID-19. The Donovan prison in OTI Mesa has been among the most deadly. I knew source investigative reporter. Mary Plummer has uncovered new details about inmates who have died of the virus. Speaker 2: 00:19 The crisis peaked in mid December, COVID-19 had spread quickly about 20% of people incarcerated at Donovan were known to have the infection. Many were relocated within the prison to try and control the virus over the next five weeks. 18 inmates died of COVID-19. One of them was Gilbert Rodriguez who was serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole. His son, Ryan Rodriguez says the family learned of his death. The day after Christmas, no one had told them he'd gotten sick. Speaker 3: 00:50 Part of me, you know, was fearful of course, that, you know, Cove is running around and it's, and it's entering these prisons, but certainly shocked that I got a phone call about him passing as opposed to, Hey, your father contracted COVID and here's what we're doing about it. Speaker 2: 01:05 I knew source uncovered that his father was one of three men at Donovan found dead or dying in their cells of COVID-19. They were all 65 or older with pre-existing medical conditions. They died within eight days of each other. During that same time five others at Donovan died of the virus at hospitals. I knew source piece together. What happened through County medical examiner records, death certificates and interviews. Rodriguez family asked the prison what happened, but was given very few details. Speaker 3: 01:36 We don't know, you know, what the protocols should have been. We certainly don't know if they were followed. So whether he was given treatment or whether he was isolated, a person in his conditions with obviously a, you know, diabetes, you know, uh, overweight, et cetera, high blood pressure, I would expect that there would be some treatment Speaker 2: 01:55 About a month after Gilbert Rodriguez death, the family received a letter from his cellmate. It said their father had requested medical help after testing positive for the virus. But staff told him no. According to the cellmate, he coughed two nights in a row. Getting little sleep then seemed to have a heart attack or stroke and died Speaker 3: 02:14 More likely than not that nothing happened. And he was left in his cell to sort of work it out Speaker 2: 02:18 Through a spokesperson. The prison warden declined multiple interview requests for this story, even so corrections department officials say they've worked tirelessly to address the virus and inmates with COVID-19 are screened at twice a day by medical staff. But experts say that isn't always enough. And court filings indicate Donovan's response to the pandemic has been among the worst of California prisons. In December, the prison oversight office found guards. There had the most citations for refusing to social distance or wear masks. It's something Mike Spilker witnessed himself. He was incarcerated at Donovan before being released during the pandemic, we literally would be the track Speaker 4: 03:00 Kind of isolated and walk by a group of correction officers, not wearing mass with them, telling us to put our masks. Speaker 2: 03:09 Spilker says a few days before he got out, he was kept in a holding cell with an inmate who shortly after tested positive for COVID-19 the state paid for him to stay in a hotel after he was released to quarantine advocates and public health experts say the mixing of people with COVID-19 with those who aren't sick is well-documented at Donovan and it's dangerous. UC Hastings law professor Hadar ABI rom reviewed our findings. She says the atrocities that have happened to incarcerated people during the pandemic are hard to comprehend. Speaker 4: 03:44 We have to keep in mind that even if you believe in harsh punishment and you believe that people should do the time. If they committed the crime, nobody was actually sentenced to die of COVID in their, Speaker 2: 03:56 And she says, when the virus spreads in prisons, it puts the entire community at risk each day, hundreds of people go in and out of prisons in California. Speaker 4: 04:06 And that means that if you're in a County that has a prison or a jail or both, you are at a higher risk of getting sick yourself Speaker 2: 04:14 Over a dozen correctional facilities operate in San Diego and Imperial counties statewide nearly 50,000 people in prisons have contracted the virus. Speaker 1: 04:25 Joining me is I new source investigative reporter, Mary Plummer, and Mary. Welcome. Speaker 2: 04:30 Thank you. Thanks for having me. What Speaker 1: 04:33 Did Donovan prison officials tell you about their protocols for treating COVID-19 patients? Speaker 2: 04:40 Uh, well, first I should say that we repeatedly requested an interview for this story and that was declined. Uh, no one at Donovan agreed to speak with us and all of our questions were forwarded to public information officers at the California department of corrections. When it comes to those three desks that we uncovered, who were found in their cells, uh, the department cited medical privacy laws and said it couldn't comment. They did not dispute the dust circumstances. I should note, uh, they would only say that medical rounds are conducted daily and the medical staff will transfer people to outside hospitals. If they need a higher level of care. We know that that happened in other cases of folks who died at Donovan, but it did not happen in these three deaths. Speaker 1: 05:25 What has the spread of COVID been like at Donovan? Was it fast or did it continue for months? Speaker 2: 05:31 Donovan, state prison stayed remarkably free of the virus for much of the pandemic, but in December that changed fast and that changed really dramatically. COVID-19 spread quickly, you know, without question, managing an outbreak at a prison where a lot of people are in close proximity is very, very challenging. Officials at Donovan used three gymnasiums to separate people. Who'd gotten infected, uh, the keys numbers high until the end of January. Uh, now more recently, they had gone several weeks with no active cases, but just yesterday, the state tracker showed that COVID is back at Donovan. Uh, they have just one active case right now. Speaker 1: 06:13 Now you say that Donovan's response to the COVID virus has been among the worst of California prisons. What do you base that on the number of deaths or infections Speaker 2: 06:24 That's based off of, uh, the death count statewide 219 people have reportedly died of the virus in state prisons. A San Quentin state prison in Marine County has lost the most lives. 28 people died there. That's followed by the California Institute for men in Chino and then Solidad state prison. South East of Salinas has 18 deaths. The same as Donovan state prison here in San Diego. And I should mention that these death counts may not capture the full losses we reported earlier this year about inconsistencies between numbers kept at the local and state level. So there are some known problems regarding counting the deaths of incarcerated people during the pandemic. And it's not Speaker 1: 07:07 Only the close proximity of prison life that causes infections to spread, but don't prison populations tend to be sicker than the general public. Speaker 2: 07:17 Other populations tend to come in with high rates of health issues. And on top of that, many prisons are located in rural areas, making it tough to recruit medical staff. And, um, some of our listeners may know California's prison. Population is also aging. Many incarcerated individuals are in their sixties and seventies. Speaker 1: 07:35 Now many California prisons released prisoners early to reduce prison populations because of COVID-19. Was that an effective method of slowing down the spread Speaker 2: 07:46 Statewide at thousands of incarcerated people have been released from California prisons ahead of schedule, but advocates have really called on officials to do more. They have complained that many of the early releases would have been released within a few months anyway, that the state really has not done enough on this front. A statewide nearly 50,000 people in prison have contracted COVID-19 so far, that's a number that keeps growing and it's a pretty staggering number that public health experts say really could have been avoided. Speaker 1: 08:17 This report we heard from Ryan Rodriguez, whose father died of COVID in his cell at Donovan. Did you hear about the stories of any other inmates who died in a similar way? Speaker 2: 08:27 Uh, we reported on Gilbert Rodriguez, Ronald Johnson, and Kenneth Sandlin. All three of those men died in their cells. Our records show that Sandlin tested negative almost three weeks before his death, but then he declined additional testing. Uh, his story is that on December 27th, he told his cellmate, he wasn't feeling well and went to sleep on the top. Bunk that afternoon staff found him unresponsive, uh, records show that attempted CPR. They took him to the triage department where he was pronounced dead. Um, in this case, the medical examiner office tested San Lyn's body and found he was positive, uh, positive for the virus. Speaker 1: 09:08 Then a companion report that's coming out on the I news source website. You profile families who weren't even told that their incarcerated relatives were sick. Can you tell us about that Speaker 2: 09:18 For, for the story coming out tomorrow, we interviewed, uh, five additional family members of men who died at Donovan. All of these deaths occurred at hospitals and all of the family members we spoke to said that they were not contacted by the prison prior to the news that their relatives had died. Uh, they did not know the incarcerated men were COVID-19 positive. Uh, and they also say they were not notified when the transfers to the hospitals took place. And, um, you know, from, from talking with them, um, their feelings are mixed. You know, one woman we interviewed lost her father to COVID-19, but he was in prison for the murder of her mother and serving a life sentence. Um, she did agree to handle his remains, but said for her, his death really brought complete closure. Um, others who died were incarcerated for lesser crimes and some even had, um, upcoming parole hearings. There's a big span in what these families experienced, but all of them say that they were not contacted, uh, until, uh, after their relatives had died of COVID-19. Speaker 1: 10:25 You can read the full report on Donovan deaths on the I new source website that's I knew source.org. And I've been speaking with a new source, investigative reporter, Mary Plummer, Mary. Thank you. Thank you, Maureen. Speaker 5: 10:43 [inaudible].