"I Begged Them To Let Me Die": How Federal Prisons Became Coronavirus Death Traps

Date:  06-18-2020 BOP accused of failing to follow its own pandemic response plan and other committing other egregious acts

From The Marshall Project: He sounded like he was dying. That was Sonia Rodriguez’s first thought when her fiancé called her from federal prison near Cleveland. The gravelly voice she had known since high school had turned into a wheeze. He could barely finish a sentence without pausing to catch his breath. He said he was coughing up blood. Rodriguez, a 49-year-old who handles accounting at a bakery, knew she was taking on a lot when she reconnected with JJ—officially Johnny Joe Desilva Jr.—while he was serving time. She knew his past involvement in gangs and drug trafficking would make the road to married life long. But now she feared she would lose her strong fiancé to sickness. To COVID-19. While he was in the federal government’s care. Continue reading >>>