The Supreme Court won’t block a lower court decision that orders Ohio prisoners at-risk for coronavirus to relocate.
On Tuesday, the high court issued an unsigned order that temporarily allows more than 800 Ohio prisoners in Elkton Federal Correctional Institution, which holds roughly 2,400 inmates, to relocate out of concerns they’re more medically vulnerable to the COVID-19 outbreak, siding against a Justice Department request to block the initial lower court order.
The order does note, however, that the Trump administration only takes issue with a lower court’s order issued back in April, leaving the opportunity for the DOJ to challenge a newer May 19 ruling by the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
“Particularly in light of that procedural posture, 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 high court’s order reads.
However, conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch did specify they would have granted the DOJ’s request.
“A judicial order peremptorily requiring the removal of over 800 inmates from a federal prison based on an alleged Eighth Amendment violation — in the midst of a pandemic — presents extraordinarily significant questions and should not be imposed without this Court’s review,” argued DOJ Solicitor General Noel Fransico. “This extraordinary pandemic poses risks to those inmates, but it also poses risks to the population as a whole, and BOP has worked diligently to mitigate the risks at Elkton.”
The American Civil Liberties Union represented four inmates at the Elkton Correctional Institution, arguing that the prison does not have the ability to establish social distancing protocols as mandated by the Bureau of Prisons. Approximately 150 prisoners are housed in dormitory-style rooms, which lawyers argue contributes to the spread of the coronavirus in the facility.
“People have a constitutional right to health, safety, and dignity while incarcerated — something that Elkton has proven it cannot provide right now,” said ACLU Legal Director David Cole in a statement on the prison. “Around the country, courts have been slow to step in and take responsibility to protect the tens of thousands of incarcerated people who are at risk from this virus.”
