The sad details of the first woman in federal prison to die from COVID-19

The federal Bureau of Prisons issued this press release last night, titled "Inmate Death at FMC Carswell," which reports these sad details:

On Friday, March 20, 2020, inmate Andrea Circle Bear was transported by the United States Marshal Service from Winner City Jail, Winner, South Dakota to FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.  Per the Bureau's current COVID-19 procedures, Ms. Circle Bear was immediately placed on quarantine status at FMC Carswell.

On Saturday, March 28, 2020, Ms. Circle Bear was evaluated by FMC Carswell Health Services staff and transported to the local hospital due to potential concerns regarding her pregnancy. After evaluation by the local hospital staff, Ms. Circle Bear was discharged the same day and transported back to FMC Carswell.  On Tuesday, March 31, 2020, Ms. Circle Bear was seen by FMC Carswell Health Services staff for a fever, dry cough, and other symptoms, and was transported to the local hospital for further treatment, evaluation, and placed on a ventilator.

On Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Ms. Circle Bear’s baby was born by cesarean section. On Saturday, April 4, 2020, Ms. Circle Bear was confirmed positive for COVID-19.  On Tuesday, April 28, 2020, Ms. Circle Bear, who had a pre-existing medical condition which the CDC lists as risk factor for developing more severe COVID-19 disease, was pronounced dead by hospital staff.

Ms. Circle Bear was a 30 year-old female who was sentenced in the District of South Dakota to a 26-month sentence for Maintaining a Drug Involved Premises.  She had been in custody at FMC Carswell since March 20, 2020.

More details on what led to this tragic state of affairs can be found via this January 2020 press release from the US Attorney's Office forthe District of South Dakota titled "Eagle Butte Woman Sentenced for Maintaining a Drug Involved Premises":

United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that an Eagle Butte, South Dakota, woman convicted of Maintaining a Drug Involved Premises was sentenced on January 14, 2020, by Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Court.

Andrea Circle Bear, a/k/a Andrea High Bear, age 29, was sentenced to 26 months in federal prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100. Circle Bear was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 12, 2019. She pled guilty on October 7, 2019.

The conviction stemmed from several incidents in April of 2018, when Circle Bear unlawfully and knowingly used and maintained a place for the purpose of distributing methamphetamine on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation.

“It is federal crime to knowingly allow a drug dealer to operate out of your home, apartment, or place of business,” said U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons. “Don’t let yourself or your property get mixed up in the world of illegal drugs. It ends badly.”...

Circle Bear was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Though I do not know just how far along Ms. Circle Bear was on April 1 when her baby was delivered by cesarean section, I think it is a near certainty that everyone had know by the time of her sentencing in mid January 2020 that she was pregnant.  I also do not know if anyone thought to ask in January 2020 about possibly delaying the start of her prison term until she gave birth, but it is so very telling (and here proved so very deadly) that, even with a seemingly low-level non-violent drug offense, there was apparently no effort to accommodate a woman in the second trimester of her pregnancy.

Moving forward on the timeline, I do not know why it took two months to transfer Ms. Circle Bear from a South Dakota jail to a federal prison in Texas on March 20.  But recall that a national emergency was declared by Prez Trump on March 13, and we had all for a few weeks already been talking about social distancing.  I am fear little or no social distancing was possible while Ms. Cloud Bear was being transported by the United States Marshal Service to FMC Carswell in Texas.  And remember, now, Ms. Circle Bear is in her third trimester when being taking on an 800+ mile trip from South Dakota to Texas in the midst of a national pandemic.  

When Ms. Circle Bear gets to Texas, very pregnant, she is "immediately placed on quarantine status at FMC Carswell."  I am not sure if I find that detail reassuring, but I suspect that status just made being very pregnant that much harder for this young woman.  Oh yeah, BOP also now tells us that Ms. Circle Bear  "had a pre-existing medical condition which the CDC lists as risk factor for developing more severe COVID-19 disease."  So why was she moved to Carswell in the first instance after the pandemic had broken out, and why did BOP apparently do so very little to ensure her health and safety along the way?

There are so many moments these days in which I am unsure about whether I could get more sad and more angry about our COVID criminal justice world, but this story surely has made me more sad and more angry. 

UPDATE: FAMM has this new press release titled "FAMM calls for an investigation into the death of Andrea Circle Bear who died of COVID-19 in Federal Bureau of Prisons custody." Here is a portion:

FAMM President Kevin Ring issued the following statement in response to the death of Andrea Circle Bear, who died giving birth to her child while on a ventilator due to COVID-19 complications while in Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) custody.  FAMM is calling for an immediate investigation, and for the expansion of compassionate release and use of home confinement.

“Not every prison death is avoidable, but Andrea Circle Bear’s certainly seems to have been — she simply should not have been in a federal prison under these circumstances,” Ring said. “In fact, nothing better demonstrates our mindless addiction to punishment more than the fact that, in the midst of a global pandemic, our government moved a 30-year-old, COVID-vulnerable pregnant woman not to a hospital or to her home, but to a federal prison.

“Her death is a national disgrace, and I hope it is a wake-up call. Ms. Circle Bear was sentenced to 26 months in prison, not the death penalty. We have to do better. The Justice Department should investigate why this happened and take steps to ensure that it never happens again.”