AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to order Texas officials to beef up safety measures at a Southeast Texas prison where 20 inmates have died from COVID-19.
Two at-risk inmates at the Wallace Pack Unit, which houses geriatric and medically vulnerable prisoners, asked the high court to reinstate a trial judge's September order requiring safety steps that included disinfecting common areas, providing inmates with cleaning supplies, conducting weekly testing and enforcing social distancing and a face mask mandate.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay blocking the judge's order last month while it decides whether to uphold or overturn it, with oral arguments set to be heard Dec. 3 in the case.
The Supreme Court declined to intervene Monday, although two liberal justices said they would have allowed the safety measures in response to a life and death situation, particularly with a ruling by the 5th Circuit Court weeks if not months away.
"Twenty lives have been lost already. I fear the stay will lead to further, needless suffering," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent.
"The people incarcerated in the Pack Unit are some of our most vulnerable citizens ... but are unable to take even the most basic precautions against the virus on their own. If the prison fails to enforce social distancing and mask wearing, perform regular testing, and take other essential steps, the inmates can do nothing but wait for the virus to take its toll," wrote Sotomayor, who was joined by Justice Elena Kagan.
The justices who denied the inmates' request issued no statement explaining their ruling.
The order for increased safety measures came from Houston-based U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison, who concluded after an 18-day trial that Texas prison officials recklessly disregarded the health risks posed by the pandemic, particularly for vulnerable inmates housed in communal dormitories where more than 500 inmates tested positive for the coronavirus.
In addition to ordering regular disinfecting with bleach products, Ellison's injunction required improved isolation for infected inmates, contact tracing, unrestricted access to hand soap and, for inmates in wheelchairs, access to hand sanitizer.
In blocking Ellison's injunction, the 5th Circuit Court said the prison's policies were reasonable and inmates would not be put at substantial risk because the number of positive cases in the Pack Unit had fallen "drastically."
Sotomayor criticized that line of reasoning.
"The threat of a second outbreak is ongoing," she wrote. "If the injunction's safety measures are not implemented and maintained, this 'relentless pandemic' may again engulf the Pack Unit."
