WASHINGTON — The Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday refused a request from the Trump administration to dam a trial decide’s ruling that had ordered feder
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday refused a request from the Trump administration to dam a trial decide’s ruling that had ordered federal jail officers to take steps to guard greater than 800 older or medically weak inmates at Elkton Federal Correctional Establishment in Ohio, the place 9 prisoners have died from the coronavirus.
The Supreme Courtroom’s temporary, unsigned order turned partly on a procedural situation, and the bulk stated it would revisit the problem “if circumstances warrant.” Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch stated they might have granted the administration’s request for a keep.
4 prisoners filed a class-action lawsuit final month saying that situations on the jail violated the Eighth Modification’s prohibition of merciless and weird punishment. In a Supreme Court brief on their behalf, lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union wrote that the prisoners were unable to take the most rudimentary efforts to protect themselves.
“They are housed, cheek by jowl, in dormitory-style rooms of approximately 150 persons each,” the brief said. “Though well aware that social distancing is an indispensable means of protecting themselves, they are powerless to use it. The result has been a severe Covid-19 outbreak lasting months, causing the deaths — so far — of at least nine people and infecting hundreds more among prisoners and staff.”
Elkton is a low-security prison that houses about 2,400 inmates. More than 800 of them are over 65 years old or have health conditions making them especially vulnerable to the coronavirus.
In a series of rulings, Judge James S. Gwin of the Federal District Court in Cleveland ordered officials to remove the most vulnerable inmates from the prison through compassionate release, home confinement, parole or transfer to another facility.
After an appeals court turned down the officials’ request for a stay, Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco asked the Supreme Court to intercede, saying that Judge Gwin’s first order threatened public safety and amounted to unwarranted judicial interference with prison administration.
The A.C.L.U. responded that the administration had not sought a stay of Judge Gwin’s May 19 order, a point the Supreme Court found significant. “Particularly in light of that procedural posture,” the majority wrote, “the court declines to stay the district court’s April 22 preliminary injunction without prejudice to the government seeking a new stay if circumstances warrant.”
The A.C.L.U.’s brief said officials had not responded adequately to the crisis in the prison.
“The government has demonstrated for months that it will not take the necessary action at Elkton to save the lives of its charges,” the group’s brief said. “As of today, despite the lack of mass testing, there are 128 confirmed and currently active cases of Covid-19 among Elkton prisoners, plus eight more among staff. The true number is likely far higher. Yet not a single prisoner, no matter how vulnerable, has been transferred out.”
“People are continuing to die,” the brief said. “When this action was filed in mid-April, three Elkton prisoners had died. Three more died within the week. The toll reached nine on May 8. The government’s complaint of administrative inconvenience cannot outweigh the risk of severe illness and death to petitioners in prison.”
“Respondent’s position, if correct,” Mr. Francisco wrote, “would impose a constitutional six-feet-at-all-times rule that would require the release of inmates from low-security facilities even where prison officials have taken extensive efforts to mitigate the risk of spread, and even while most law-abiding citizens in today’s society cannot guarantee themselves such protections at all times.”