We represent Ricky Price and Kevin Conway, two men currently detained at the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), at risk of contracting COVID in a facility that has been a vector for spread of the disease. In part, the risk of COVID comes from the fact more than 500 persons are detained at the MCC, a facility designed for only 400 detainees. This overcrowding has caused double-bunking in small cells and the housing of up to 100 persons in dormitory-like facilities.
In May 2020, 20 to 25% of the population was diagnosed with an infection, despite a lack of testing throughout the facility. The same happened again once winter hit. Still, management has stuck with its old failed practices--officers walk the halls without wearing masks; basic needs such as soap and hand sanitizer are not widely available; and showers and other commonly-used objects (like phones) are not cleaned and sanitized regularly.
Our clients are asking the court to order development of a vaccination plan at the MCC which results in all MCC residents and staff being vaccinated as soon as possible, along with vaccine education; adoption of an aggressive testing regimen in the facility, so that staff and all new and existing residents are tested on a regular basis; properly implemented isolation of COVID-positive residents; effective sanitation; universal masking inside the facility, and measures to relieve the depression of residents who have spent months under lockdown.
