Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in Washington, Jenniffer González, asked the United States Department of Justice to stop the transfer of inmates to the island, after the authorities sent 54 inmates, of whom several tested positive for COVID-19, without having notified them to the Puerto Rico federal prosecutor, the chief of sheriffs, and the president of the local Federal Court.
In view of the foregoing, I ask that you immediately stop transferring all federal inmates to the District of Puerto Rico until it is medically safe to do so and that both the Chief Judge, the United States Attorney, and the United States Marshal agree that it is viable and that they will not affect the operations of MDC Guaynabo ”, reads part of the letter that González sent to William Barr, Secretary of Justice of the United States, Michael Carvajal, director of the Bureau of Prisons and Donald Washington, director of the Marshals Service .
This newspaper reported yesterday the discomfort of the federal authorities on the island, who were surprised by the movement of inmates without prior notice amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Judge Gustavo Gelpí, of the Federal Court of San Juan, had raised the alarm about the transfer to the Guaynabo Metropolitan Detention Center of 54 federal inmates, without consultation with the court or the head of the federal prosecutor, Stephen Muldrow, or the US sheriff for the district of Puerto Rico, Wilmer Ocasio. According to the commissioner, Sheriff Ocasio expressed objection to the transfer of inmates for security reasons for the prisoners and the staff of the Metropolitan Detention Center.
The commissioner maintained that the transfer of prisoners without consultation affects the “aggressive” plan to control the coronavirus pandemic that Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced has established.
With the seven federal prisoners recently transferred to Puerto Rico, there are now 10 inmates who have tested positive for the virus on the Island. “All these people who have tested positive are newcomers, who first go through an isolation area for 14 days. “Judge Gelpí indicated.
The judge added in a previous note published by the press that “the problem is that nobody here requested the transfer of this group of inmates. They are like 40 who arrived about a week ago, who are awaiting sentencing, but we are not making hearings. The court is closed and the hearings are being given by video conference. ”
Gelpí said that after speaking with the prison administration in Guaynabo, the federal bailiffs, the Public Defender’s office and the federal prosecutor’s office, assured him that none of them requested the transfer of the inmates.
He also regretted that this situation affects the effort they had made since the pandemic began, preventing COVID-19 cases from being reported in federal prison.
