MONROE, Wash. — Seven inmates and five staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus in the Monroe Correctional complex, the highest number in the state for prison populations.
This has some inmates concerned about their health while incarcerated.
Washington state has said it is taking measures, including releasing nearly 1,000 inmates statewide, to lower the risk of a coronavirus outbreak behind prison walls. But an inmate tells KING 5 that the state's announced plans won't be enough because of what it's like inside.
Arthur Longworth was convicted of murder in 1985 and sentenced to life without parole.
He’s been in the Monroe Correctional Complex for 10 years and said the coronavirus has brought a level of fear and confusion to the prison that he has never seen before.
“It’s been chaos, no one knows what to do,” Longworth said.
On April 8, more than 100 inmates rioted over the prison’s handling of the coronavirus.
Longworth was in a different part of the complex at the time, but said he’s heard from others the reasons behind it.
“When the DOC secretary gets on television and says, ‘We are living up to the governor’s social distance mandate in prison,’ and at the same time you’re listening to this broadcast in a dorm where people are stacked on top of each other, some feelings kind of arise in you,” he said.
The biggest problem facing inmates, according to Longworth, is that it’s nearly impossible to social distance.
“We share everything. This phone, as soon as I get off this phone. Another person will pick it up and use it,” he said. “Everything is prison is touched a thousand times a day. So, the mandate that everyone in our state has been put under just isn’t possible in prison.”
While some media outlets are reporting inmates are asking to be put in isolation to avoid exposure to the virus, Longworth said the opposite is happening in Monroe.
“Everyone knows in here that if they have symptoms, they’re going to get chained and shackled, they’re going to get stripped, and they’re going to get holed into a cell with nothing in it, basically the hole. I think that make the incarcerated people in prison kind of leery to report symptoms,” he said.
Earlier this month, several inmates filed a petition to the courts claiming the state was not doing enough to protect those housed in prisons from getting or spreading coronavirus. The Washington Supreme Court ruled in the inmates' favor last week, saying the state must lay out how it was taking “all the necessary steps to protect the health and safety” of inmates.
There are 12 prisons throughout the state, and about 19,000 inmates statewide, including those on work release.
The state on Monday announced a plan to release 950 inmates who have non-violent convictions, drug or alcohol related charges, and fewer than 8 months left on their sentence. State officials said this plan has been in the works for several weeks, though it was not announced until after the state supreme court ruling.
Gov. Jay Inslee's office says that the reduced population will give inmates more space for social distancing.
"By reducing the total number of individuals, it allows people to be moved within the facilities to give more room for social distancing. It will take moving some individuals, but we believe this will help significantly," said the governor's spokesperson Tara Lee.
But Longworth fears that step won’t make a dent.
“That’s not the prisoners you see in prisons. So, those must be inmates that are in the minimum work camps, or work releases,” he said.