WXXI s Noelle E.C. Evans reports
According to a status update letter dated Feb. 19 from U.S. Attorney James Kennedy to U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo, the virus had spread to three housing units and enhanced protections were put in place for those detainees. The protections are court-mandated due to the
Ramsundar v. Wolf case that followed the facility’s first outbreak in April 2020.
However, Amy Belsher with the New York Civil Liberties Union says that the most vulnerable detainees need better protection, like the kind a vaccine could provide.
“Were they not in ICE detention they would qualify under the state’s priority guidelines as people who are either over the age of 65 or who have underlying medical conditions,” Belsher says
A detainee who had been to an outside medical facility appears to have been the initial source of a COVID-19 outbreak at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, according to a source familiar with operations of the center. So far, 24 inmates have tested positive for COVID but only the initial detainee is symptomatic. In the past, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia houses inmates arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Some of the inmates have begun a
The Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia houses inmates arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Some of the inmates have begun a