AUWCL’s Criminal Justice Clinic Calls for Safe Conditions Inside Prisons Amid Covid-19
In a letter dispatched February 3, 2021, a coalition of more than 15 organizations, including AUWCL’s Criminal Justice Clinic and other law school clinics, law firms, and non-profit organizations, implored Warden Jeffrey Krueger of the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners (MCFP Springfield) to improve the dire conditions at the prison. MCFP Springfield is a federal Bureau of Prisons facility for medically vulnerable individuals in Springfield, Missouri. Since October 2020, 18 incarcerated people have died of COVID-19 at the prison. At least 415 out of approximately 800 incarcerated individuals at MCFP Springfield have contracted COVID-19, along with 230 staff members. The letter calls on the Warden to implement specific measures to protect the prison’s medically vulnerable population.