Federal Judiciary

Phase 2 in Miami-Dade

Things are starting to reopen.  We even had sports this weekend.  School may reopen before October 5.  And the rumors are flying around that Chief Judge Moore may update his order on grand juries to allow them to reopen before the Jan 2021 date.  But before we get too optimistic and happy, check out these horrific numbers from the prison system, via the Marshall Project:

Deaths

The first known COVID-19 death of a prisoner was in Georgia when Anthony Cheek died on March 26. Cheek, who was 49 years old, had been held in Lee State Prison near Albany, a hotspot for the disease.  Since then, at least 1,016 other prisoners have died of coronavirus-related causes.  By Sept. 8, the total number of deaths had risen by 5 percent in a week.

There have been at least 1,017 deaths from coronavirus reported among prisoners.

Florida is second only to Texas in number of prisoner deaths.  And the death rate in prison is 130% higher than in general in Florida.  This doesn't account for the number of deaths by staff members, which is also extremely high in Florida (75 as of now).  Extremely sad.

Full post as published by Southern District of Florida on September 14, 2020 (boomark / email).