23 and 1
By Eleanor Matheson and Asst. Public Defender Meigan Thompson
On May 2nd, William was arrested and incarcerated in the lower level of the 201 Jail. Because William had learned about the coronavirus before his incarceration, he felt he knew enough to mitigate the risks associated with its transmission. William had taken pains to avoid exposure to coronavirus. “I washed my hands all the time. I always wore a mask. I tried to stay away from everyone and social distance.”
When William was incarcerated at 201, however, he realized that he had little ability to reduce his risk of exposure. Being housed in the lower level of the jail meant that people – vendors, deputies, medical staff, other incarcerated people – routinely trafficked through its corridors and hallways. Despite the single jail-issued mask that he was given, William felt there was a real possibility of exposure to the coronavirus. This made him worried.
William was placed in a pod that contained 40 two-man cells. Each cell was no bigger than the size of a large living room rug. There was no way to practice social distancing between cellmates. “My cellmate and I couldn’t move around without touching each other,” William said.
For the next 50 days, William was confined to his cell. “We weren’t allowed to leave,” William said. “We were placed on lockdown. We were told that it was a new procedure because of the Coronavirus. Because the jail is so crowded, the lockdowns are a way to keep everyone as far apart from each other as possible.”
“I took it as serious as death.”
“It appears that the jail increased its use of lockdowns in an attempt to control the spread of the coronavirus behind bars,” said Assistant Public Defender Michelle Quinn. “Lockdowns, however, can have especially harmful consequences to people experiencing incarceration. In what is already a stressful situation, lockdowns can adversely impact the emotional and physical well-being of those incarcerated.”
On lockdown, William spent 23 hours of each day inside the walls of his cell and had one hour each day to shower or use the jail phones. “I had to keep myself from going crazy,” William said. To keep himself from unraveling, William spent about half of his time reading and doing crossword puzzles. The other half of his time was dedicated to sleeping and exercising within the confines of his cell. He also held out hope that Public Defender Quinn would resolve his case soon. “
The allegations against William dated a few years back,” said Public Defender Quinn. “Essentially, William had been picked up on an old indictment in the middle of a pandemic. He was forced into confinement, at the exposure of a potentially life-threatening illness, and neither he nor his family had the financial resources to post his bond of $125,000.”
After their first jail visit together, Public Defender Quinn began investigating William’s case. At William’s direction, she located several witnesses who were willing to testify in support of William and set his case for a bond hearing. In mid-June, on the day of his bond hearing, William was not brought to court. He was under quarantine because his pod has been exposed to the coronavirus. Not wanting to delay any longer, Quinn proceeded anyway.
“We presented a witness that credibly undermined the State’s allegations,” said Public Defender Quinn. “As a result, the court lowered William’s bond to $10,000. While this was the outcome we wanted, it shouldn’t have had to come at the expense of William’s freedom and safety. ”
On June 20th, Williams’ family posted his $10,000 bond and William was released from jail. William was tested for COVID-19 while at 201. After being tested, he was told that the results would be back in three to five days. If his results did not come back within that time, he was instructed to call a phone number. That number connected to a coronavirus help line but did not have any information about his test. It frustrated William that he was not able to receive his test results. “Why did they bother testing me if they aren’t going to tell me the results?”
William has now returned to work. He has yet to receive his coronavirus test results from the jail. As for his case, it was disposed of in August after PD Quinn’s advocacy resulted in the State reducing his charge to a misdemeanor offense.
William is focused on putting his life back together. “It’s an experience I’ll never forget, I can promise you that.”
*In order to protect our client’s identity, the client’s name has been changed.
Contributing Writer
Eleanor Matheson, 2L University of Virginia School of Law
I hope that people will see that incarcerated individuals are people with families who deserve to be treated as humans with dignity. Before working with the Humanity Project, I hoped that criminal justice reform was something that would come eventually. After hearing the experiences of incarcerated individuals during the Coronavirus pandemic, I realized that criminal justice reform cannot wait for some future conversation, it is something that we should be talking about now. After hearing the stories from the Humanity Project, I reached out to a local organization in my town to provide cleaning supplies and PPE to vulnerable members of society, including those recently released from jails or prisons.
