Blumenthal & Murphy Demand Answers on BOP's Failure to Respond to COVID-19 Outbreak at FCI Danbury

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) sent a letter to Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Michael Carvajal seeking an explanation for BOP’s failed response to the spread of COVID-19 at FCI Danbury. The letter follows a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing “Examining Best Practices for Incarceration and Detention During COVID-19,” during which Blumenthal questioned Carvajal on BOP’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak at FCI Danbury. As of June 5, 2020, 98 inmates and 61 staff members at FCI Danbury have tested positive and one inmate has died.

“In your testimony, you repeatedly told Senator Blumenthal that you would “get” or “look into” the information that you did not know then. Sadly, BOP provided minimal additional information following your testimony, and failed to seriously address any of Senator Blumenthal’s questions,” wrote the Senators.

This is the third letter Blumenthal and Murphy have sent to Carvajal regarding the COVID-19 response at FCI Danbury. Letters sent on April 13, 2020 and May 1, 2020 expressed significant concerns that FCI Danbury will continue to be a hotspot for COVID-19, putting inmates, staff, and the greater community at risk.

“Serving time or working inside a prison should not be a sentence to sickness or death. Your failure to answer questions both during the hearing and afterwards calls into question whether BOP is taking appropriate measures to protect inmates and correctional officers from this disease. That is why we are writing once again to seek a response to these important questions,” the Senators continued.

The letter to Director Carvajal can be found here.

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