SALT LAKE CITY An inmate in the Utah State Prison is suing the Utah Department of Corrections in an effort to stop the shuffling of large groups of prisoners from one building to the next.
Damon Crist says the practice spurred widespread COVID-19 outbreaks at the prison starting in October. The spread has continued in the following months, infecting more than 2,600 inmates, including 12 who later died. I m not asking for money damages. I m not asking to be released, Crist told the Deseret News during a phone call from the prison s Draper site. I m just saying, Look, the department is moving people recklessly. It s causing mass outbreaks and it s infecting and killing people.
January 10, 2021 GMT
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) A state prison inmate has sued the Utah Department of Corrections to stop the movement of inmates among buildings, an alleged lack of mask and glove use by prison officials and other measures he claims spread the coronavirus.
Damon Christ, who is serving time for theft, alleges the practices contributed to COVID-19 outbreaks at the Draper facility, The Deseret News reports. Since October, more than 1,200 inmates have been infected and 12 have died.
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Christ says he tested positive for the coronavirus in November.
“I’m not asking for money damages. I’m not asking to be released,” Crist said of his 3rd District Court lawsuit. “I’m just saying, ’Look, the department is moving people recklessly. It’s causing mass outbreaks and it’s infecting and killing people.”
A 62-year-old inmate incarcerated at the Utah State Prison in Draper died Wednesday, the 15th death of a person who tested positive for COVID-19 in a Utah state prison since the start of the pandemic.
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Serious allegations from an inmate against the Utah Department of Corrections and its former leader of its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic are coming out in a handwritten lawsuit filed by the inmate himself.
In two months, 13 prisoners have died from coronavirus and the latest data shows there are nearly 1,200 active positive cases.
One of those inmates, Damon Crist, is now suing the prison’s former executive director, Mike Haddon claiming cruel and unusual punishment a violation of the state constitution’s 8th Amendment. Attorney Sara Wolovick with ACLU Utah says:
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