On Aug. 26, the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund released a statement that addressed a concerning action by the Philadelphia Department of Prisons. 

On Aug. 10, over 100 CIS women, trans individuals and gender non-conforming people housed in Riverside Correctional Facility in Philadelphia were moved to two different facilities that were in worse conditions than the one they left. One was Mod 3 and the other is known as Alternative Special Detention (ASD).

The women described the facilities as being in inexcusable condition with heightened risks of COVID-19 exposure. For them, the move came out of nowhere during the pandemic, and their families were not even alerted, reasonably leaving them concerned of their loved ones’ whereabouts. 

According to a recent report from the Philadelphia Inquirer, the move from Riverside happened so the prison system could then transfer 500 male inmates to the former all women’s jail.

Four women bravely came forward to share what they experienced so the public can know their truth.

“They put everybody in a bus, no social distance. Everybody was together, handcuffed together. The whole bus was full, 2 in each seat,” said a single Latina mother who is also immunocompromised and therefore at high risk if she were infected. 

Additionally, the conditions of the ASD are run like a camp, according to descriptions from multiple people who inside the facility. 

With no social distancing, there are 4 to 5 people in each cubicle, and more than 40 people in every unit.

It goes without saying that the living conditions in prisons are deplorable. After five months in a pandemic, one would think there would be some measures taken to ensure the health and safety of incarcerated folk, at the very least setting social distancing measures in place. That is especially necessary considering guards are the ones who bring the virus into the facility.

In a Twitter thread, the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund posted a string of audios of different women sharing traumatic experiences they have been living through locked up amid the pandemic. 

“They’re ignoring me, I haven’t seen a social worker at all. They’re not doing nothing,” the audio of one incarcerated woman recounted.

“A girl was 19 years old, She had sickle cell, she was coughing up blood, and they couldn’t rush her to the hospital because she would get locked up. So we see a nurse here and not a doctor,” said another woman initialed “CR” in the tweet. 

She added that someone called reporters from FOX 29 news, CBS3, 6abc, and NBC10 to share their stories. 

When the journalists arrived, they would not let them into the prison.