PJI Files for Temporary Restraining Order Asking Court to Immediately Prevent Statewide Transfer of COVID-19 Inmates to Ill Equipped Prison
In PJI’s medical suit, Lewis v. Cain, a federal judge indicated that pre-pandemic medical care at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (LSP) was unconstitutional. Transferring confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases from across the state to the already subpar medical care at the LSP facility puts the community at large and the thousands of elderly and vulnerable people housed in LSP at increased risk for infection and death.
“One couldn’t devise a system more contrary to current public health recommendations and the President’s Task Force recommendations than a prison like LSP,” said Dr. Michael Puisis, a medical expert who has worked in correctional medicine for 35 years.
The Louisiana State Penitentiary already has a uniquely high number of inmates who are elderly, immuno-compromised, disabled, or have other chronic conditions. PJI, and our Lewis v. Cain partners believe that treating statewide cases at LSP, an already unconstitutional and overtaxed system of inmate care, proves an intentional and willfull exposure of some of the most vulnerable people in the Department of Corrections system to unconscionably high risk of death or serious harm.