Coreas v. Bounds

MAURICIO COREAS et al., Petitioners, v. DONNA BOUNDS, in her official capacity as Warden,Worcester County Detention Center, et al. Respondents.

ALPHA IBRAHIM BAH MANSARAY, Petitioner, v. JACK KAVANAGH et al., Respondents.

Civil Action No. TDC-20-0780

Civil Action No. TDC-20-1304

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

September 18, 2020

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Petitioners Mauricio Coreas, Jose Quinteros Hernandez, Julio Navarro Martinez, Angel Guzman Cedillo, William Kemcha, and Wilson Ramos Reyes have filed a civil class action ("Coreas") in which they seek release from detention pursuant to a writ of habeas corpus of a class of all medically vulnerable detainees held in Maryland detention facilities under the authority of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), on the grounds that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unconstitutional conditions of confinement at those facilities. This case has been consolidated with a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by Petitioner Alpha Ibrahim Bah Mansaray ("Mansaray"), who seeks his release from immigration detention on similar grounds. Pending before the Court is Petitioners' Motion for Class Certification and Expedited Bail Hearings. The Motion is fully briefed, and the Court held a hearing on the Motion on September 2, 2020. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion will be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

BACKGROUND

Relevant background facts and procedural history are set forth in this Court's memorandum opinions and memorandum order addressing earlier motions for preliminary injunctions filed by certain Petitioners. See Coreas v. Bounds (Coreas I), ___ F. Supp. 3d. ___, 2020 WL 1663133, *1-5 (D. Md. Apr. 3, 2020); Coreas v. Bounds (Coreas II), ___ F. Supp. 3d. ___, 2020 WL 2201850, *1 (D. Md. Apr. 30, 2020); Coreas v. Bounds (Coreas III), ___ F. Supp. 3d. ___, 2020 WL 2292747, *1-3 (D. Md. May 7, 2020). The Court incorporates those opinions and orders into this opinion and sets forth below only those additional facts relevant to the resolution of the pending Motion.

I. Pre-Class Petition History

Petitioners Mauricio Coreas, then an ICE detainee held at the Howard County Detention Center ("HCDC") in Jessup, Maryland, and Angel Guzman Cedillo ("Guzman Cedillo"), then an ICE detainee held at the Worcester County Detention Center ("WCDC") in Snow Hill, Maryland, filed this suit on March 24, 2020 along with a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction seeking their immediate release from immigration detention. They argued that, given their respective medical vulnerabilities, their detention at HCDC and WCDC (collectively, "the Detention Facilities") during the COVID-19 pandemic violated their rights to substantive due process under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, both because ICE, HCDC, and WCDC officials had acted with deliberate indifference to their health and safety and because their detention constituted impermissible punishment of civil detainees not reasonably related to a legitimate governmentpurpose. The Court found significant deficiencies in the conditions of confinement and the Detention Facilities' efforts to mitigate the risk presented by COVID-19, including a lack of testing for COVID-19, a failure to implement systematic social distancing protocols, and a lack of any procedures to address the heightened risk to detainees with certain medical conditions. Coreas I, 2020 WL 1663133, at *11. Nevertheless, the Court denied without prejudice the Motion for a Preliminary Injunction based on the lack of evidence that the coronavirus was present in either HCDC or WCDC. Id. at *10-14. In so ruling, however, the Court noted that if evidence emerged as to one of the Detention Facilities that the coronavirus had entered the facility, or that Respondents were failing to test individuals with symptoms consistent with COVID-19, it would find that the continued detention of detainees in that facility with conditions that place them at high risk for death or severe illness from COVID-19 ("high-risk detainees"), such as Coreas and Guzman Cedillo, likely violated the Constitution. Id. at *13.

Subsequently, a nurse at HCDC tested positive for COVID-19, Coreas II, 2020 WL 2201850, at *1, and at least one immigration detainee at WCDC was identified as having symptoms of COVID-19 but was not tested for the coronavirus, Coreas III, 2020 WL 2292747, at *2. After filing an Amended Complaint adding as a Petitioner William Kemcha, a high-risk detainee at WCDC, Petitioners filed renewed Motions for Preliminary Injunctions as to all three Petitioners. Relying on its previous analysis, the Court issued preliminary injunctions ordering the release of Coreas, Guzman Cedillo, and Kemcha pending their immigration hearings. Coreas II, 2020 WL 2201850, at *3; Coreas III, 2020 WL 2292747, at *6.

On May 26, 2020, Mansaray filed his Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus seeking his release from HCDC on the grounds that HCDC's failure to adequately protect him, a high-risk detainee, from the threat of COVID-19 violated his constitutional rights.

II. The Class Petition

On May 29, 2020, Petitioners filed a Second Amended Class Action Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus ("the Class Petition") which added Quintero Hernandez, Navarro Martinez, and Ramos Reyes as Petitioners. The Class Petition seeks certification of a class defined as "All persons who are or will in the future be held in ICE detention in Maryland who are age 50 or older or who have medical conditions that place them at heightened risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19." Class Pet. ¶ 107, ECF No. 105. It also requests certification of a "Howard County Subclass" defined as "All persons who are or will in the future be in ICE detention at the Howard County Detention Center who are age 50 or older or who have medical conditions that place them at heightened risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19," id. ¶ 108, and a "Worcester County Subclass" defined as "All persons who are or will in the future be in ICE detention at the Worcester County Detention Center who are age 50 or older or who have medical conditions that place them at heightened risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19," id. ¶ 109. The pending Motion for Class Certification and Expedited Bail Hearings followed. On July 1, 2020, while this Motion was being briefed, the Court consolidated Coreas and Mansaray.

Petitioners are all current or former ICE detainees at HCDC or WCDC. They all assert that they are high-risk detainees in that they have certain risk factors that they believe place them at high risk for severe illness or death if they contract COVID-19. Coreas, who was detained at HCDC before this Court ordered his release pending his immigration hearing pursuant to a preliminary injunction, suffers from diabetes. Quintero Hernandez is currently detained at HCDC and is 56 years old. Navarro Martinez, who was detained at HCDC before his release on May 26, 2020 after an immigration judge granted his application for relief from removal, suffers fromsevere gastritis, chronic heart pain, and a possible undiagnosed heart condition. Mansaray, who is currently detained at HCDC, previously suffered from pneumonia and has hypertension.

Guzman Cedillo, who was detained at WCDC before this Court ordered his release pending his immigration hearing pursuant to a preliminary injunction, suffers from hypertension, prostate problems, and chronic pain. Kemcha, who was detained at WCDC before this Court ordered his release under the same circumstances, suffers from a compromised immune system, high blood pressure, and lymphedema. Ramos Reyes, who was detained at WCDC before he was released on June 5, 2020 after an immigration judge granted his application for relief from removal, suffers from hypertension and diabetes.

As in the original Petition, Petitioners argue in the Class Petition that, in light of their high-risk status and the allegedly deficient mitigation measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, their continued detention is unconstitutional because Respondents have acted with deliberate indifference to their health and safety, and the conditions of confinement amount to impermissible punishment. They also argue that their detention under the present conditions, particularly the lack of special measures to protect high-risk detainees, constitutes a denial of reasonable accommodations of their disabilities, in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §§ 701-796 (2018). In particular, Petitioners focus on the close quarters in which they are housed in HCDC and WCDC, the lack of frequent sanitation and disinfecting, the frequent turnover in staff who may be carrying the coronavirus, the limited medical resources and facilities in both HCDC and WCDC, the limited guidance on, and capacity for, testing for COVID-19, and ICE's failure to release a large number of detainees to address overcrowding.

III. Independent Review

Since the Court's rulings on the Motions for Preliminary Injunctions in which the Court found significant deficiencies in the Detention Facilities' mitigation measures, Respondents have reported that they have taken additional mitigation measures at both HCDC and WCDC, including issuing masks to staff and detainees, requiring certain staff to use these masks and other personal protective equipment ("PPE") under certain circumstances, and increasing sanitation in the Detention Facilities. They reported that at WCDC, ICE detainees are now all housed in single cells.

On July 17, 2020, with the agreement of the parties, the Court appointed Dr. Fred Rottnek, Professor and Director of Community Medicine at Saint Louis University and the former Medical Director and Lead Physician for the Corrections Medicine Division of the Saint Louis County Department of Health, as an independent expert charged with conducting a review of the Detention Facilities' policies and practices in response to the COVID-...