Senators Demand Answers as Another Lompoc Inmate Dies of COVID

The evening before Tuesday’s Senate hearing on deadly COVID-19 outbreaks in federal detention facilities, the Bureau of Prisons announced the fourth virus-related death at its complex in Lompoc. Daniel Vadnais, a 56-year-old inmate at Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc (FCI Lompoc), the low-security half of the property, tested positive for COVID-19 on May 2. On May 6, he was transported to an undisclosed Santa Barbara County hospital with a rapid pulse and breathing problems. Two days later, he was placed on a ventilator, and on June 1, he died. 

At least 71 inmates in Bureau of Prisons (BOP) custody have died since late March, when outbreaks started taking hold in penitentiaries across the country. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have criticized the bureau for not doing enough to protect inmates and staff, and on Tuesday, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee peppered BOP Director Michael Carvajal with questions about his department’s response.

The hearing took place against the backdrop of nationwide protests over the fatal asphyxiation of black Minneapolis resident George Floyd by a white police officer. Many of the committee members drew parallels between what they described as persistent structural racism among U.S. police on the street to the mass incarceration and unequal treatment of black and brown Americans behind bars. “This nation’s history of inequity is continuing to be exposed in dramatic fashion and is being exacerbated by this pandemic,” said Senator Cory Booker. “That is especially true for our prisons.”