Case 4:94-Cv-02307-CW Document 2996-2 Filed 07/14/20 Page 1 of 360
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Case 4:94-cv-02307-CW Document 2996-2 Filed 07/14/20 Page 1 of 360 1 DONALD SPECTER – 083925 RITA K. LOMIO – 254501 2 MARGOT MENDELSON – 268583 PRISON LAW OFFICE 3 1917 Fifth Street Berkeley, California 94710-1916 4 Telephone: (510) 280-2621 Facsimile: (510) 280-2704 5 MICHAEL W. BIEN – 096891 6 GAY C. GRUNFELD – 121944 THOMAS NOLAN – 169692 7 PENNY GODBOLD – 226925 MICHAEL FREEDMAN – 262850 8 ROSEN BIEN GALVAN & GRUNFELD LLP 9 101 Mission Street, Sixth Floor San Francisco, California 94105-1738 10 Telephone: (415) 433-6830 Facsimile: (415) 433-7104 11 LINDA D. KILB – 136101 12 DISABILITY RIGHTS EDUCATION & DEFENSE FUND, INC. 13 3075 Adeline Street, Suite 201 Berkeley, California 94703 14 Telephone: (510) 644-2555 Facsimile: (510) 841-8645 15 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 16 17 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 18 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 19 20 JOHN ARMSTRONG, et al., Case No. C94 2307 CW 21 Plaintiffs, [REDACTED] DECLARATION OF PATRICK BOOTH IN SUPPORT OF 22 v. PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO PROTECT ARMSTRONG CLASS 23 GAVIN NEWSOM, et al., MEMBERS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC 24 Defendants. Judge: Claudia Wilken 25 26 27 28 Case No. C94 2307 CW DECLARATION OF PATRICK BOOTH IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO PROTECT ARMSTRONG [3577254.1] CLASS MEMBERS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC Case 4:94-cv-02307-CW Document 2996-2 Filed 07/14/20 Page 2 of 360 1 I, Patrick Booth, declare: 2 1. I am an attorney licensed to practice before the courts of the State of 3 California. I am also an attorney at the Prison Law Office, counsel of record in Armstrong 4 v. Newsom. I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth herein, and if called as a 5 witness, I could competently so testify. 6 2. On March 4, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a 7 Proclamation of a State of Emergency in response to the imminent dangers posed by the 8 novel coronavirus. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of California 9 Governor Gavin Newsom’s Proclamation of a State of Emergency, which I accessed on 10 July 11, 2020 at: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/03/04/governor-newsom-declares-state-of- 11 emergency-to-help-state-prepare-for-broader-spread-of-covid-19/. 12 3. On March 11, 2020, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros 13 Adhanom declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic. Attached hereto as Exhibit B is a 14 true and correct copy of a transcription of the remarks, which I accessed on July 11, 2020 15 at: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at- 16 the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020. 17 4. As of 3:00 PM on July 13, 2020, there were 329,162 reported COVID-19 18 infections in the State of California, as well as 7,040 reported COVID-related deaths in the 19 state. Attached hereto as Exhibit C is a true and correct copy of California’s official 20 COVID-19 infection and death totals, which I accessed on July 13, 2020 at: 21 https://covid19.ca.gov. 22 5. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on April 7, 23 2020, that “some people with disabilities might be at a higher risk of infection or severe 24 illness because of their underlying medical conditions.” Although “[a]ll people seem to be 25 at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 if they have serious underlying chronic 26 medical conditions like chronic lung disease, a serious heart condition, or a weakened 27 immune system,” “adults with disabilities are three times more likely than adults without 28 disabilities to have heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or cancer than adults without 2 Case No. C94 2307 CW DECLARATION OF PATRICK BOOTH IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO PROTECT ARMSTRONG [3577254.1] CLASS MEMBERS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC Case 4:94-cv-02307-CW Document 2996-2 Filed 07/14/20 Page 3 of 360 1 disabilities” (emphasis added). Attached hereto as Exhibit D is a true and correct copy of 2 the article, entitled “People with Disabilities,” which I accessed on July 10, 2020 at: 3 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with- 4 disabilities.html. 5 6. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) 6 reported the first case of COVID-19 among its incarcerated population on March 22, 2020. 7 The patient was incarcerated at California State Prison, Los Angeles County. Attached 8 hereto as Exhibit E is a true and correct copy of CDCR’s announcement, which I accessed 9 on July 13, 2020, at: https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/news/2020/03/22/cdcr-and-cchcs-confirm- 10 first-inmate-tests-positive-for-covid-19/ 11 7. At least one incarcerated person has tested positive at 26 of the 35 CDCR 12 institutions. I determined this by using the CDCR webpage entitled, “Population COVID- 13 19 Tracking.” I selected the “Confirmed Table View” tab. Under the “Confirmed” column, 14 the “State Total” is 6,323, indicating that, as of July 13, 2020, 6,323 people in CDCR 15 custody have tested positive for virus. Under the “Deaths” column, the “State Total” is 34, 16 indicating the 34 people have died from COVID-19 while in CDCR custody. The table 17 also lists the number of positive cases recorded at each CDCR institution to date. I 18 manually counted how many institutions had recorded at least one positive test, and I 19 concluded that at least one incarcerated person has tested positive at 26 of the 35 CDCR 20 institutions. Attached hereto as Exhibit F is a true and correct copy of the expanded 21 “Confirmed Table View” on CDCR’s COVID-19 tracking website, which I accessed on 22 July 13, 2020 at: https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking. 23 8. Between staff and the incarcerated population, each of CDCR’s 35 24 institutions have recorded at least one COVID-19 case. I determined this by using the 25 CDCR webpage entitled, “CDCR/CCHCS COVID-19 Employee Status.” The table lists 26 each of CDCR’s 35 institutions, plus the Richard A. McGee Correctional Training Center, 27 Galt (CTC), and the number of staff members at each institution that have reported a 28 positive COVID-19 test. At all 36 institutions listed, there has been at least one COVID- 3 Case No. C94 2307 CW DECLARATION OF PATRICK BOOTH IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO PROTECT ARMSTRONG [3577254.1] CLASS MEMBERS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC Case 4:94-cv-02307-CW Document 2996-2 Filed 07/14/20 Page 4 of 360 1 positive CDCR/CCHCS staff member. Attached hereto as Exhibit G is a true and correct 2 copy of the CDCR webpage entitled, “CDCR/CCHCS COVID-19 Employee Status,” 3 updated July 10, 2020, which I accessed on July 12, 2020 at: 4 https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/cdcr-cchcs-covid-19-status. 5 9. Four prisons already have experienced devastating outbreaks involving at 6 least 900 incarcerated people, and ten institutions have had outbreaks involving over 100 7 incarcerated people. I determined this by using the CDCR webpage entitled, “Population 8 COVID-19 Tracking,” which I accessed on July 13, 2020 at: 9 https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking/. I selected the “Confirmed 10 Table View” tab and sorted the table with the “Confirmed” column, leaving the institution 11 with the highest number of confirmed positives at the top of the table. According to the 12 table, San Quentin (1,923 confirmed cases), Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (1,032), 13 Avenal State Prison (948) and California Institution for Men (948) have each experienced 14 over 900 positive cases of COVID-19. Additionally, California Correctional Center (397 15 confirmed cases), California Rehabilitation Center (277), California Correctional 16 Institution (175), California Institution for Women (167), California State Prison, Corcoran 17 (161), and California State Prison, Los Angeles County (131) have each experienced over 18 100 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases. 19 10. Public health experts expect future outbreaks at California prisons. In a 20 report by AMEND and the Berkeley School of Public Health, dated June 15, 2020, experts 21 stated that other California prisons “are certain to experience an outbreak if they have not 22 already.” I accessed that report, entitled “Urgent Memo: COVID-19 Outbreak: San 23 Quentin Prison,” on July 13, 2020, at: https://amend.us/wp- 24 content/uploads/2020/06/COVID19-Outbreak-SQ-Prison-6.15.2020.pdf. A true and correct 25 copy of that report is attached hereto as Exhibit H. 26 11. On July 2, 2020, at a Case Status Conference for Plata v. Newsom, No. 01- 27 cv-01351-JST (N.D. Cal.), Judge Tigar stated that outbreaks of the novel coronavirus “will 28 occur at every institution. It’s inevitable.” A true and correct copy of the transcript of that 4 Case No. C94 2307 CW DECLARATION OF PATRICK BOOTH IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO PROTECT ARMSTRONG [3577254.1] CLASS MEMBERS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC Case 4:94-cv-02307-CW Document 2996-2 Filed 07/14/20 Page 5 of 360 1 case status conference is attached hereto as Exhibit I. 2 12. On June 12, 2020, Plaintiffs requested the Housing History Reports of class 3 members at CIM who had either a DPW or DPO code and had tested positive for COVID- 4 19 as of June 3, 2020.