Concerns about the jail: A message for former inmate Frederick Whitlock, who died in Terre Haute Regional Hospital after testing positive for coronavirus, was written on the vehicle of a protester on Dec. 9, 2020 outside of the Vigo County Jail. Staff photo by Joseph C. Garza
A federal judge Tuesday ordered Vigo County's sheriff to provide a COVID-19 status update on infected inmates, medical attention and specific steps being taken to protect those incarcerated at the county jail from the contagious virus.
The ACLU of Indiana filed a motion Monday after Vigo County Sheriff John Plasse last week stated 108 inmates and two staff have tested positive for COVID-19.
“For the better part of this year, public health officials have sounded alarms that prisons, jails, and detention centers would be hotspots for the spread of COVID-19 and the ACLU of Indiana has called on Indiana officials to reduce the number of people incarcerated in order to slow the spread of COVID-19," Jane Henegar, executive director of that ACLU of Indiana, said in a statement.
"Successful efforts, across the country, to reduce the number of people incarcerated have resulted from concerted actions by elected officials – prosecutors, judges, legislators, mayors, and correctional authorities – to change laws and to change how new and existing laws are applied. Our elected officials have the power to reduce jail and prison populations. They have the power to save lives," Henegar said.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled on a motion, ordering a status report that must address:
• The number of prisoners who have been infected with the disease, including where infected prisoners are housed in the jail.
• What type of medical attention have those prisoners received and what will be received in the future if changes are being made in treatment protocols.
• The specific steps being taken to protect prisoners who are not infected, including where noninfected prisoners are being housed in the jail.
• The results of the Board of Health visit to the jail, its recommendations, and the steps being taken to implement the recommendations.
• Any and all COVID-19 protocols currently in place at the jail.
• Whether or not any prisoners have been transported to hospitals for emergency care or special treatment related to the coronavirus or its symptoms.
• All other pertinent issues relating to the disease and the jail’s population.
The federal judge, who is overseeing a federal lawsuit on overcrowding at the Vigo County Jail, ordered the status report be filed to the court no later than Dec. 22.
"Our attorneys will cooperate with what Judge Magnus-Stinson requires and I am sure once she gets the responses, that she will find that we have done everything humanly possible to do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 from coming in the jail," Plasse said in response to the court order.
"The questions are legitimate and we will obviously give the truthful answer to them and let the judge rule how she see fit. I think our staff is doing a tremendous job and the fact that we have gone COVID-19 free for this long is a testament to their efforts," Plasse said.
Inmate Frederick Whitlock, 56, collapsed in his cell on Dec. 4 and later died at Terre Haute Regional Hospital. The sheriff said Whitlock was asymptomatic for COVID-19 at the time he collapsed, but he did test positive for the coronavirus when taken to the hospital.
Whitlock was booked into the Vigo Count Jail in May 2019. He was awaiting transport to the Indiana Department of Correction after recently being sentenced to 22 years in a stabbing case.
Whitlock’s death caused concern over how COVID-19 risk is being handled at the jail, later sparking a protest in front of the jail over jail conditions. Vigo County Coroner Dr. Susan Amos has not released a determination as to the cause and manner of Whitlock’s death, but the coroner has said it appears to be due to natural causes and not directly related to COVID-19.
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