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Law360, New York (May 29, 2020, 6:30 PM EDT) -- A New York federal judge prepared Friday to decide what to do about COVID-19-related concerns at the Metropolitan Correctional Center after a doctor tasked with inspecting the Manhattan prison issued a scathing report proclaiming basic sanitation and virus screening failures.
U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos was set to hear arguments Tuesday morning on prisoners' request for injunctive relief, including an order that they receive ramped-up coronavirus testing and treatment, better sanitation and potential compassionate release from an allegedly overcrowded wing of the 677-inmate facility known as 11 South.
"I know you are all very busy based on the amount of papers that I have received," Judge Ramos said Friday, having heard from counsel for prisoners, including petitioner Cesar Fernandez-Rodriguez, and from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, which represents MCC Warden Marti Licon-Vitale, that Monday's hearing is ready to go forward with discovery complete.
As part of the discovery process, a medical doctor, Homer S. Venters, inspected the MCC for 3 1/2 hours on May 13. In a May 26 filing, Venters said he witnessed a failure to properly screen inmates for COVID-19 and concluded that the prison has "ignored" signs that the virus may be widespread.
Dr. Venters also reported a lack of access to basic sanitation, including soap — a key weapon against the virus — and said he saw evidence that the facility is "widely infested with mice and roaches."
"I am therefore concerned about the ongoing health and safety of the population at the MCC, and the likelihood of the continued spread of COVID-19 therein," he wrote.
The MCC, meanwhile, has asked Judge Ramos to dismiss any and all of the inmates' claims insofar as their potential release is concerned.
"These claims warrant dismissal because the Prison Litigation Reform Act [prohibits] the court from granting the requested relief, and because the claims improperly ask the court to infringe on the statutory authority of both the Bureau of Prisons and the district court judges presiding over the criminal cases of MCC's inmates," the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office said in a May 20 filing.
The Manhattan inmates are represented by Arlo Devlin-Brown, Andrew Ruffino and Alan Vinegrad of Covington & Burling LLP.
The government is represented by Jean-David Barnea and Allison Rovner of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
The case is Fernandez-Rodriguez et al. v. Licon-Vitale, case number 1:20-cv-03315, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
--Editing by Michael Watanabe.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
