Alabama to quarantine new inmates in 81-year-old, previously closed prison

After a 30-day moratorium on accepting most new inmates from county jails, the Alabama Department of Corrections said Thursday it will begin transitioning 120 people from county jails to state prisons through a 14-day quarantine period. 

Ma intakes will be quarantined in an 81-year-old prison that was closed in 2016 due to deteriorating conditions. Prison officials say the prison has been renovated to "safely house" inmates. 

After receiving a tip on March 26 that inmate workers were helping move beds into the previously closed Draper Correctional, the Montgomery Advertiser asked ADOC if it was preparing to use any shuttered prisons or dormitories as potential COVID-19 infection quarantines or for other reasons related to its coronavirus pandemic plan. ADOC spokesperson Samantha Banks on April 8 denied this in an emailed statement. 

But in a statement released on April 16, ADOC confirmed the department had been preparing Draper to act as a quarantine dormitory for inmates. 

"New male intakes will be quarantined in the recently renovated vocational space, in the visitation building, and in a renovated portion of the main facility on the Draper Correctional Facility (Draper) campus," the statement said.

"Appropriate health and security modifications have been made within the previously decommissioned area of Draper to safely house quarantined intakes. New female intakes will be quarantined in a facility on state property next to Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women where the Tutwiler sewing plant is located. Upon arrival at their respective intake quarantine facility, inmates will be provided with face masks before entering an intake holding area — one-by-one — to undergo medical screenings."

Prison officials plan to select 100 men and 20 women to transition from county jails beginning next week. 

"The Department will collaborate with each county to identify these inmates and will focus on receiving inmates who have been held in jails for more than 30 days since receipt and acceptance by the Department of the inmate’s transcript, as well as from county facilities with significant capacity limitations," ADOC said. "The Department will not accept new intakes who are symptomatic of COVID-19. Additionally, the Department will not accept intakes from any jail facility that has had an inmate test positive for COVID-19 in the last 14 days prior to the planned transfer date, or any facility that currently is under quarantine due to a COVID-19 outbreak."

ADOC has tested a fraction of its prison population for COVID-19 infections. According to data on its website, 50 inmates have been tested and received negative results and an additional 5 tests are outstanding. 

Six ADOC employees have self-reported confirmed coronavirus cases, the department said. 

Prisons began blocking personal and legal visits and announced they would no longer take a majority of new inmates for 30 days in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among its existing population.

ADOC on Thursday said moratoriums on visitation and work release programs will be extended for another 30 days, but the system will open up a "pilot" program for new jail intakes. 

"At the end of the 14-day quarantine period, the Department will reassess its intake procedures and consider any changes that will positively impact the process moving forward. Upon completion of this process evaluation, the Department will communicate with all counties regarding additional or modified procedures to the pilot program for the second round of new intakes," ADOC said. 

The initial 30-day moratorium caused county jail populations to swell. 

Sonny Brasfield, the executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama said in early April more than 2,000 state inmates were in county prisons awaiting hearings or transfers. The outbreak makes the situation particularly difficult, he said, because many jails in smaller counties don’t have infirmaries.

There have been calls for the state to expedite paroles for inmates aged 50 and older within Alabama correctional facilities, for the health and safety of inmates, prison employees and the communities in which they live.

More than two dozen law professors and former law enforcement officials sent a letter to Ivey urging her to do release vulnerable inmates and warning of a “public health catastrophe” within the state prisons without action. 

But the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles in March suspended parole hearings in reaction to the pandemic, and an ACLU of Alabama review last week found that 4,000 Alabama inmates were currently eligible for parole as of April 1. 

After public calls from legislators and advocated, the Bureau this week backtracked its position and said it would restart hearings in mid-May. 

Fear of the coronavirus is currently rampant in Alabama prisons, according to multiple prisoner and family interviews the Advertiser has conducted in recent weeks. Social distancing inside is impossible, and many dorms have a handful of sinks for upwards of 350 men to use at any one time. 

Alabama prisons have blocked personal and legal visits to prisoners and implemented staff temperature checks statewide, among other measures, in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19 into prison dormitories. 

But prisoners and their families tell the Advertiser they remain concerned about how quickly the novel coronavirus might spread if introduced into a prison, and the havoc it could wreak on a system already plagued by failing infrastructure and poor medical care, endangering both the incarcerated and the staff who return every day to their Alabama communities.

In a letter this week, one prisoner, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said he should be eligible for parole at this time. He currently lives in a dorm reserved for older inmates. 

"We are the ones at a higher risk and should be isolated from the rest of the population, but still the guards allow others to come in from other dorms to do their trading and dope deals. There's nothing being done to protect us," he said. "We feel like trapped rats waiting for death to come."

Brian Lyman contributed to this report. Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Melissa Brown at 334-240-0132 or mabrown@gannett.com.