Once I started my interview with Brett Ellis, a federal prisoner at FCI Seagoville in Seagoville, Texas, he launched himself by saying matter-of-factly, “I’m CONVICT-19, and I examined optimistic.”
Perplexed and considerably confused, I responded, “You imply COVID-19,” to which he instantly corrected me, insisting, “No, CONVICT-19, that’s what the marshals and the guards name me, and that was earlier than I examined optimistic.” He continued, “The truth is, I’m solely in jail for 19 days, so getting COVID was about the one factor I had time to do.”
Ellis’s story is only one of 1000’s of comparable tales of federal prisoners who’re routinely topic to a collection of sophisticated and pointless transfers requiring air, bus, and van transport from federally contracted county jails to quite a few federal services together with detention facilities, switch facilities and holdover facilities in what has change into one other type of epidemic altogether — one that’s worsening the already-prolific unfold of the pandemic all through the U.S. jail system.
The U.S. authorities designates Ellis “Federal Inmate 22319-031.” He occurred to reach because the final of 19 prisoners off a jail transport bus. As FCI Seagoville’s consumption guards carried out roll name, every prisoner getting into the constructing can be initially recognized by his seat quantity. Ellis was quantity 19 out of 19 prisoners arriving, so that they initially known as him “19.” Coincidentally, the jail formally makes use of the final two digits of a prisoner’s major quantity to separate prisoners into manageable teams for processing and companies. Ellis’s quantity occurred to be 22319, and he recalled transferring by difficulty and dress-out whereas being summoned at every cease. “Yo, 19! Uniform pick-up, now!” “19! Commissary up!” “The place’s 19? Boots and laces! Take ’em or depart ’em! Let’s go 19!”
Ellis was despatched again to jail on a probation violation for having the title and telephone variety of an individual convicted of a felony — his greatest pal — listed in his cellphone. After all, Ellis was permitted to have the telephone, however he had not acquired permission from probation to have his greatest pal’s title and quantity as a contact. For this infraction, Ellis can be topic to an enormous investigation, a revocation listening to, a probation violation and a newly imposed sentence of six months in jail.
It will take the system 5 and a half months simply to ship him from his residence in Gardner, Kansas, to Seagoville — his assigned custody location. After a number of countless bus rides, non-public jail overnights, nationwide airlifts, and van transports, he would solely have 19 days left to serve in jail. Again in Kansas, he requested the U.S. Marshals why he couldn’t simply keep on the non-public jail, CoreCivic-Leavenworth, the place he began, to which, the officer responded, “Everybody’s gotta’ eat.”
Ellis had been initially arrested in 2009, and had by no means been in bother with the regulation. He had no prison historical past. He had no historical past of violence. He had no hands-on sufferer together with his cost. When he was arrested, all he needed to do was settle for duty, plead responsible, serve his time in good religion and return residence. The system, nevertheless, would merely not permit that.
He had been initially arrested 11 years earlier for possession of a bootleg picture depicting a minor that was recovered from his pc’s arduous drive. The picture was captured from an unlawful web site that he could or could not have visited — he merely says he doesn’t bear in mind. He admits he had clicked on a plethora of taboo web sites. Ellis accepted his destiny. He took duty and cooperated totally. He agreed to plead responsible to place all this behind him. Sadly, the U.S. prison authorized system doesn’t permit for an environment friendly prosecution when so many departments, businesses and civil servants, all “gotta’ eat.”
Ellis began this lengthy and arduous prison continuing in 2009 when brokers first arrived on his doorstep — 11 males deep, weapons drawn, battering ram deployed, chaos and pandemonium as officers screamed, “get on the bottom!” The primary query Ellis requested himself was, “How did they know which web sites I had visited?” The fed’s worldwide cyber-crimes process drive had been watching his browsing actions for greater than two years earlier than they orchestrated the siege.
He was then scooped up by the tactical crew and delivered to CoreCivic-Leavenworth close to his residence. Whereas housed underneath a federal authorities contract over the subsequent few months, he would await his destiny. U.S. Marshals would start a collection of transports to and from the federal court docket as a part of the arraignment course of. Ellis can be returned in 5 months for his official plea listening to. He would sit round on the holdover facility for one more 9 months, till the date of his formal sentencing listening to. Lastly, he would obtain a time period of six years imprisonment for what the court docket would describe as egregious and inappropriate habits.
By then lowered within the eyes of the guards to easily “CONVICT-19,” Ellis can be transferred by bus, airlift and transport van in 2012 to his vacation spot at FCI La Tuna in New Mexico, the place he would serve out his unique sentence. Others at La Tuna serving time for comparable “non-contact” pc offenses commiserated about jail phrases exceeding 12, 15, even 20 years. Six years, Ellis thought, should be a stroll within the park.
Ellis would ultimately full his time period of imprisonment in February 2018 and be launched as a “mannequin” prisoner. He can be returned residence with no infractions, no violations, but in addition with no formal rehabilitation or behavioral counseling besides that which he initiated on his personal. Regardless of having solely a 1.5 % likelihood of reoffending, he would face a 63 % likelihood of returning to jail on a non-offense probation violation, so he supposed to “stroll on eggshells,” as he put it. Upon launch, he would start his eight years of supervision underneath the watchful eye of the U.S. Workplace of Probation. He would change into one in every of almost 1,000,000 people on the intercourse offender registry.
Ellis ultimately landed full-time employment in 2018 at a neighborhood grocery retailer. He attended all his required behavioral remedy conferences. He adhered to his digital monitoring obligations. He sat for random polygraph exams, and he constantly reported to his jap district probation officer. As a precaution for his fellow co-workers and grocery retailer prospects, Ellis would meticulously comply with all COVID-related protocols together with sporting a masks, bodily distancing, washing his fingers, and receiving intermittent testing. He was completely, positively, unequivocally, “COVID-19 damaging” when the assault crew arrived on his doorstep later that day.
Earlier within the day, Ellis had punched into work as common, however on at the present time issues felt completely different. His co-worker of two years, a younger lady within the neighborhood, gave the impression to be obtrusive at him with disdain. The night earlier than, she had checked the native intercourse offender registry and located his title listed. In her rage, concern and disgust, she instantly contacted the native probation workplace to warn them that Ellis has possession of a cellphone and is “possible misusing it whereas on the registry.”
The Workplace of Probation instantly formulated a process drive to analyze. They dispatched an extraction crew to Ellis’s residence to intercept the telephone. When Ellis arrived residence from work, they have been ready in full tactical regalia. Although Ellis instantly supplied up his telephone and defined that he had permission to personal one, the crew proceeded to escort him to the closest federal constructing, topic him to a collection of polygraph checks, rephrase questions 5 alternative ways, and interrogate him on whether or not he had utilized the telephone for nefarious functions.
Ellis’s telephone was then topic to an intensive forensic analysis which discovered nothing uncommon. Ultimately, a scroll by the contact record did produce the title and variety of the perfect pal, who had beforehand been convicted of a felony. Nearing the conclusion of this complete investigation, Ellis thought to himself, “Why did they not simply ask me if I had a felon’s title on my telephone? I’d have informed them.”
Ellis was sure he wouldn’t be transferred anyplace in the course of the peak of a world pandemic. His confidence was based mostly on a latest memo asserting that each the U.S. Marshals and the Federal Bureau of Prisons would discontinue all non-essential prisoner transfers to attenuate undue publicity. Nonetheless, Ellis discovered himself on a transport bus inside days.
On the peak of the epidemic in mid-July 2020, Ellis discovered himself within the firm of 1000’s of different prisoners all in transit to and from numerous prisons. He started at CoreCivic-Leavenworth, ready for his official revocation listening to. That listening to can be attended by a flurry of masked court docket personnel; investigative brokers; bodily distanced prosecutors; and gloved Marshals, every carrying recordsdata bearing quantity 22319-031. The defendant can be sentenced to a time period of six months imprisonment at FCI Seagoville.
Ellis would start his new jail task touring from Leavenworth by van to the airport. He would then depart by airlift and cross nation to and from Phoenix, Arizona, accumulating lots of of transferees alongside the best way. Transport vans would shuttle him to numerous overnights supporting a community of personal prisons and contract jails, and ultimately arrive in Oklahoma, only a few hundred miles from the place he started in Kansas. His short-term residence can be the newly renovated non-public jail, CoreCivic-Cimarron. “Bear in mind,” thought Ellis, “bus drivers, air marshals, county sheriffs, all of them gotta’ eat.”
Ellis would stay at Cimarron inhaling the brand new paint odor for a month or so earlier than he would ultimately start one other collection of transports. The pandemic continued to rage on. The Division of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons continued reporting that each one prisoner transports have been on maintain for security functions. FCI Seagoville, Ellis’s final vacation spot, simply occurred to be recognized as the only most concentrated inhabitants for COVID-positive instances of any establishment, firm, hospital, meals processing plant or stand-alone facility on the planet.
He would ultimately arrive within the final seat on a 19-person transport, and he would enter the gates of FCI Seagoville’s holdover facility on November 6, 2020, almost 5 months after he started his violation. He can be positioned in a holding cell with three different short-term prisoners, and his cell would transition new prisoners out and in day by day. Inside just a few weeks, there can be 19 completely different prisoners sharing these bunks, most, “non-contact pc clickers.” This prompted Ellis to ask a guard, “Why so many clickers?” to which the guard responded with elation, “Hell, you guys are the brand new marijuana!”
Ellis lastly walked throughout the road in early December 2020, and for the very first time, stepped onto the grounds of FCI Seagoville the place he started his official jail time period. He was housed in a dorm-style constructing with 320 males and positioned into the exact same bunk of a prisoner who, simply an hour earlier than, was faraway from that 10-man cell as a result of he examined optimistic for COVID-19 after experiencing flu-like signs.
Ellis examined optimistic inside 36 hours of his arrival. Two-thirds of his 10-man cell examined optimistic with him. He would fulfill his jail sentence over the subsequent 19 days solely to be returned residence on December 30 with a debilitating virus. Sadly, this time, he would return, not as “Brett Ellis,” however quite, as “CONVICT-19.” He would return having no residence, no job, no cash, and no greatest pal to name. He would arrive hungry and shortly understand, “not everybody’s gotta’ eat.”
