Despite coronavirus stay-at-home order, Pa. is transferring children across the state

Pennsylvania officials have approved moving youth in the juvenile-justice system more than 100 miles across the state, despite a stay-at-home order from Gov. Tom Wolf to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

In a letter to Wolf, two state lawmakers expressed outrage Wednesday that children from Philadelphia were being transported and admitted to a secure state residential program called Loysville Youth Development Center.

“With the shutdown of the Commonwealth, it seems incomprehensible that youth from the area known to be a COVID-19 ‘hotbed’ such as Philadelphia would be moved to an area in Perry County where there is only one case of the virus being reported,” wrote Rep. Mark Keller (R., Perry/Cumberland) and Sen. John DiSanto (R., Dauphin/Perry).

The letter was also addressed to Geoff Moulton, court administrator of the Pennsylvania Judicial Center. The lawmakers said their intent was to stop the transfer of court-ordered juveniles to Perry County, and specifically, to the Loysville center. .

» READ MORE: As COVID-19 spreads, advocates ask Pa. Supreme Court to release vulnerable youth from detention centers, jails

Keller and DiSanto said that “concerned employees” described an intake screening process that “consists only of a few questions and a temperature reading.”

“This protocol seems severely inadequate during a worldwide pandemic,” they said. “No one, especially children, should be transported to a new area during a mandated Stay-at-Home Order.

“This highly irresponsible decision by [state officials] will be putting these children at great risk, in addition to jeopardizing all citizens of Perry County.”

A spokesperson for the state Department of Human Services, which operates Loysville and other state juvenile-justice centers, said state officials were working with probation officers and judges “regarding what placements and transfers are absolutely necessary given the public health crisis.”

Wolf’s office said he had no comment beyond DHS’s statement.

DHS is now conducting a “preadmission screening” to try to catch any exposure a youth may have had to the coronavirus before transporting or admitting them to a new facility, said Ali Fogarty, communications director. Additionally, each center like Loysville has designated areas for children who become symptomatic or test positive.

The youths going to Loysville are being transferred from the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center, where city officials say at least one worker has tested positive for coronavirus.

On Keller’s official Facebook page, commenters showed support for his letter: “This is a disgrace. There is no reason at all for this kind of transfer. During this time, it’s criminal,” wrote one woman. “This could be spreading this virus and that’s exactly what the stay at home is for to stay put not to be traveling!!” wrote another.

On Wednesday, legal advocates filed an emergency petition to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court asking it to order the release of the 2,000 juveniles in court custody due to the threat of COVID-19. Attorneys said that youths did not have access to soap and hand sanitizer, and could not practice social distancing from beds nailed a few feet apart to the floor.

The subject of inmate transfers has caused alarm at all levels of the state’s corrections system as public health advocates continue to worry about the risk county jails, state prisons, and federal detention centers pose for a viral outbreak.

Close quarters, shared cells and bathroom facilities, and limited cleaning supplies make detention centers a potential tinderbox for rapid spread. New York’s Rikers Island has logged more than 300 positive cases among inmates and guards — an infection rate nearly seven times that of the city at large.

In Philadelphia, the mayor’s office said Thursday that 20 inmates have tested positive for coronavirus, a rate 3.5 times larger than the general population. As the city’s death toll rose to 17, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said Philadelphia was observing clusters of confirmed cases in group settings like the prisons.

“The City has been working closely with providers on protocols to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within these facilities, to ensure proper treatment for infected residents, and to safeguard other residents,” Farley said in a statement. “Many of these facilities are also receiving direction from the State Department of Health. The clusters we’re seeing are evidence that despite these thorough and proactive efforts, halting the spread of the virus is a growing challenge.”

Pennsylvania lawmakers and the heads of the state’s corrections officers’ unions say efforts they’ve taken to protect their facilities could all be undone with the introduction of new inmates transferred in from outside detention centers where the coronavirus has already gained a foothold.

In Wayne County, the transfer of several inmates from New York, the epicenter of the U.S. epidemic, to a federal detention center near Waymart, Pa., last week, prompted U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D., Wayne) and 11 House colleagues to call on the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to limit transfers to emergencies only.

“I strongly urge BOP and the Marshals to quickly come to an agreement on limiting inmate movements only in cases of extreme need,” Cartwright wrote. “This is about the health and safety of not just the inmates, but also the essential prison staff and their families that they go home to every night.”

The bureau responded Wednesday with new policies limiting such prison-to-prison moves and requiring all new inmates at any facility to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

Larry Blackwell, president of the 11,000-member union whose members work at state prisons, pressed the Wolf administration last week to temporarily suspend inmate transfers from county jails to state prisons as well as moving inmates between state facilities. “The governor has called for all nonessential movement to halt, and this isn’t essential,” he said.

A Department of Corrections spokesperson said halting such moves “was not realistic at this time.”

Inquirer staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.