Today, Green Justice Legal, a virtual public interest law firm, won a significant victory for prisoner rights in the face
of the current coronavirus outbreak. Attorneys Emily Posner and Alexander “Sascha” Bollag represent Mr.
Christopher Marlowe, a prisoner with diabetes, who, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), is at a
heightened risk of severe complications from COVID-19. Judge Brian A. Jackson of the Middle District
of Louisiana issued an injunction ordering the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections, and
specifically the B.B. “Sixty” Rayburn Correctional Center, to submit a plan within five (5) days to ensure proper
hygiene practices, and implement social distancing, as recommended by the CDC and other public health authorities. The Judge further ordered a plan to minimize exposure to possible infected persons when the prisoner visits the infirmary and cafeteria areas of the prison. The Court noted that it “may impose additional substantive precautionary measures following its review and evaluation” of the plans.
Mr. Marlowe, who has an ongoing lawsuit against the Department of Corrections regarding the substandard
care and diet he receives as it relates to his diabetes, which he developed since being imprisoned, filed a
motion for a temporary restraining order on April 1, 2020, after several prisoners were diagnosed with
COVID-19 at Rayburn Correctional Center. As of this writing, 28 people there have tested positive. During a
telephone hearing, Mr. Marlowe testified to the lack of precautionary measures and the impossibility of
proper social distancing in the confines of the facility. Mr. Marlowe was convicted by a non-unanimous jury
and it is therefore legally questionable whether he should even be imprisoned at this time, in the light of
the Ramos Supreme Court ruling this past Monday. Ramos held felony convictions by a non-unanimous jury
are unconstitutional.