American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prisons Locals Union Local 573 FCI Aliceville, AL The Honorable Senator Doug Jones United State Senator of Alabama 326 Russel Senate Ste Building Washington D.C. 20510 August 4, 2020 The Honorable Richard Shelby United States Senator of Alabama 304 Russell Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Shelby and Jones, I am writing on behalf of more than 250 employees working at the Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville, AL. There is a growing concern for the safety and well-being of all staff assigned to FCI Aliceville, their families, and the surrounding community as it relates to inmate movement and the introduction of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in our prison. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) enacted an action plan for inmates being transferred between BOP facilities to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 to both staff and inmates. Prior to an inmate leaving their current institution, the inmate(s) are placed in a quarantine unit in their assigned cell for at least 14 days and tested for the coronavirus. Once the inmate(s) completes their required quarantine duration and has tested negative for COVID-19, they are permitted to transfer to another institution. When the inmate arrives at their new institution, they are medically screened, tested again for COVID 19 and placed in a quarantine unit for no less than 14 days. These mitigating factors have greatly reduced the chances of an inmate transmitting the coronavirus disease between BOP institutions. Inmates are currently being transferred by the United States Marshal’s to prisons though out the country, which also includes FCI Aliceville. The United States Marshal’s are not mandated under the same aforementioned BOP action plan. Therefore, inmates are not placed in a 14 day quarantine and are not tested for COVID-19. The USMS are only required to take a temperature of an inmate when being transferred. Inmates are NEVER tested for the Coronavirus disease until they reach a BOP facility. Page 1 of 2 Over the past three weeks and on three different occasions, FCI Aliceville now has four inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19 due to the gross mismanagement of inmate movement conducted by due to the lack of communication by the Bureau of Prisons to outside agencies as to our protocols. Additionally there appears to be, a lack of concern by other agencies outside of the Federal Bureau of Prisons on the safety of their staff or ours. When these inmates come to our institution, without being tested, the increased risk to our staff coming in contact with inmates that have COVID-19 rises, which as a result would elevate the numbers in our community. Senators Shelby and Jones, we ask for your assistance in demanding that Attorney General William Barr mandate the United States Marshals Service to conduct COVID-19 testing on all federal inmates. Once these inmates receive their negative test results and complete their required quarantine period, then and only then will inmates be introduced into a BOP facility. If the United States Marshals Service and others are allowed to continue the transferring and introducing of untested inmates into our facility as they do now, the probability of increased cases of COVID-19 at FCI Aliceville will be greatly exacerbated. We ask for your help in this matter to mitigate the possibility of spreading this deadly disease to our staff, their families, the inmates and our surrounding communities. Sincerely, Terrence E. Windham Legislative Coordinator/ Treasurer AFGE Local 0573 Council of Prison Locals 33 Terrence.windham@icloud.com (205) 399-3569 P.O. Box J Aliceville, AL 35442 Page 2 of 2