Dear Mr. Carvajal:
We write to request that you work with state and local officials to combat the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) within the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). While challenges continue, we commend the law enforcement personnel, correctional officers, and staff that have worked to respond to the outbreak inside the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex (FCC). However, it is critical that this become a whole-of-government approach, as this virus continues to spread. We ask that you work collaboratively with state and local governments to ensure benchmarks are met to effectively contain this public health crisis and to prevent the continued spread of the disease within the staff population, inmate populations, and neighboring communities.
We are extremely concerned with how quickly the virus propagated within the prison population. We first wrote to you on April 15, 2020, urging the BOP to take every action possible to curb the spread of COVID-19 within the Lompoc prison, including establishing a mobile hospital to handle an outbreak at the prison facility. At the time, there were only 63 total confirmed cases at the Lompoc United States Penitentiary (USP)—which included 17 staff members and 46 inmates. On April 21, 2020, we followed up to ask BOP to proceed with more urgency to procure the necessary staff or medical equipment. When we sent our second request, data from Santa Barbara County showed that 81 inmates and 29 staff members had tested positive for COVID-19. We also learned from local reporting that an inmate within the USP had died and another had been released and died within a week due to COVID-19. We appreciate your response dated May 7, 2020. While some progress has been made, more action is required.