Item

COVID-19 Inside Arkansas Prisons: The Death of Derick Coley

Title (Dublin Core)

COVID-19 Inside Arkansas Prisons: The Death of Derick Coley

Description (Dublin Core)

This article is the second in a three-part series by NPR reporter Anna Stitt. Sponsored by the National Geographic Society's COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists. In this article Stitt mostly focuses on the death of inmate Derrick Coley. He was a healthy 29-year-old inmate who had been up for parole since June of 2017 but once he contracted covid in the Cummins Unit, part of the Arkansas State Prisons, he passed away. In exploring his death Stitt finds that inmates who pay $3 each time they request medical attention ( this was waved from March 23-April 30, 2020) were often not receiving any medical attention and at other times would only see a nurse. The process relayed to her was that inmates must request medical attention four times before they can see a doctor and the only doctor is one whose medical license has been revoked. After several inmates died from covid some inmates began to rebel. Prison staff used tear gas to quell the uprising. This was surprising to inmates Stitt spoke with because the coronavirus is a respiratory virus and at the time over 900 people were infected.
As with many large bureaucracies, the prison blames the company contracted to provide medical care, Wellpath, and they pass the buck back to the prison.
The concern for prisoners, their family, friends, and advocates is that they could die. Without the ability to social distance, 100% mask wearing, and being able to wash their hand frequently the fear is that a prison sentence, even a relatively short one, could turn into a death sentence.
Wellpath, CumminsUnit, prison, Arkansas, covid, LincolnCounty, inmates, incarcerated
HST 580

Date (Dublin Core)

June 9, 2020

Creator (Dublin Core)

Anna Stitt

Contributor (Dublin Core)

Chris Twing

Event Identifier (Dublin Core)

HST580

Partner (Dublin Core)

Arizona State University

Type (Dublin Core)

article

Link (Bibliographic Ontology)

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/covid-19-inside-arkansas-prisons-death-derick-coley
http://web.archive.org/web/20200620025253/https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/covid-19-inside-arkansas-prisons-death-derick-coley

Publisher (Dublin Core)

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org See all items with this value

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Government State
English Emotion
English Healthcare

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

inmates
Wellpath
Cummins
Arkansas
Covid-19

Collection (Dublin Core)

Incarceration
Deathways

Linked Data (Dublin Core)

COVID-19 Inside Arkansas Prisons: The Past and Future
COVID-19 Inside Arkansas Prisons: Virus Spreads Through Inmate Populations and Staff
Image of a male doctor holding a sign which reads I stayed at work for you, you stay at home for us.Doctor asking us to stay home
HST 580 Professional Experience/Archives course

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

06/13/2020

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

06/19/2020
01/30/2021
08/02/2022
10/13/2024

Date Created (Dublin Core)

06/09/2020

Item sets

Covid 19
Arizona State University

Linked resources

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Relation
Title Alternate label Class
COVID-19 Inside Arkansas Prisons: Virus Spreads Through Inmate Populations and Staff Linked Data Interactive Resource
COVID-19 Inside Arkansas Prisons: The Past and Future Linked Data Interactive Resource

This item was submitted on June 13, 2020 by Chris Twing using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive

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