THE American Civil Liberties Union on Saturday filed a pair of class-action lawsuits on behalf of federal prisoners at Lompoc and Terminal Island, claiming officials mishandled coronavirus outbreaks at the California facilities that have infected a combined total of 1,775 inmates, killing 10.

“While the rest of California took extraordinary measures to stop the spread of coronavirus, the Bureau of Prisons failed to take preventive measures as basic as isolating sick prisoners, allowing social distancing, or providing enough soap,” Peter Bibring, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, said in a statement.

The lawsuits, which name the prisons’ wardens, as well as Michael Carvajal, director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, claim that officials at both facilities allowed the virus to spread by failing to provide clean environments, basic sanitary supplies and personal protective equipment to prisoners and staff.

Overcrowding makes it impossible for prisoners to maintain social distancing or take other precautions, but officials have refused to consider the majority of inmates for release into home confinement despite directives that they do so.

The refusal amounts to cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eight Amendment, the suits claim.

The Terminal Island prison in Los Angeles’ San Pedro section is a low-security facility that specializes in housing prisoners who need long-term medical or mental health care.

As of Sunday, 692 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 and eight had died, according to federal Bureau of Prisons figures.

Fifteen staffers also had tested positive.

The prison houses 1,042 inmates despite a rated capacity of 779, according to the Terminal Island lawsuit.

Two Terminal Island prisoners named in the lawsuit — Maurice Smith, 50, and Edgar Vasquez, 32 — say that, amid the outbreak, they were moved to one such space, an old warehouse that had no heating or hot water for showers.

The warehouse is also “infested by a veritable menagerie,” including mice, raccoons, feral cats, possums, skunks, and bats that fly through holes in the ceiling, the lawsuit states.

(SD-Agencies)