Hundreds of demonstrators gathered along Santa Lucia Canyon Road across from the Lompoc federal prison complex Sunday to protest conditions inside. The prison’s massive coronavirus outbreak appears to have eased but families and advocates are concerned that inmates are still at risk. 
Protest organizer Chrissie Rogers, left, traveled from San Bernardino County for Sunday’s demonstration at the Lompoc federal prison complex. “These men were not sentenced to death until they were exposed to COVID-19,” she said. “The inmates are not able to social distance. There is no possible way in a cell. There’s no way they’re going to get well in a cell.” 
Nicole Fears traveled from Georgia for the protest in support of inmates at the Lompoc federal prison complex. 
Parked across from the Lompoc federal prison complex, family members of inmates take health precautions and display signs for their protest. 
Toting a bullhorn and sign, protest organizer Chrissie Rogers talks to inmate families during’s Sunday protest. 
Prison demonstrators listen to speakers Sunday at a rally in Lompoc’s Ryon Park. 
Families of inmates as well as complete strangers converged on the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex on Sunday, demanding that prison officials take action amid concerns about inadequate sanitary conditions, health-care access and more.
The penitentiary has been ground zero in Santa Barbara County’s coronavirus outbreak.
Shouting “Let them go,” while holding signs with similar messages, the event drew people from throughout California and even out of state in reaction to the COVID-19 toll.
“Our loved ones are experiencing what is in violation of their Eighth Amendment (rights against) cruel and unusual punishment,” said Chrissie Rogers, who lives in San Bernardino County. “These men were not sentenced to death until they were exposed to COVID-19.”
The Bureau of Prisons “has been reckless” with not following Attorney General William Barr’s orders to provide compassionate release for certain inmates during the pandemic, she added.
“The inmates are not able to social distance,” Rogers said. “There is no possible way in a cell. There’s no way they’re going to get well in a cell.”
She also called for precautions involving prison staff to ensure COVID-19 is not carried into — or out of—the prison facilities, which house 1,542 inmates at the medium-security and satellite prison camps.
“They need the medical care, they need hot water, they need hot showers, they need communication with their family,” Rogers said of the inmates. “There’s a lot of things that are in order that are not being addressed.”
She said the Bureau of Prisons is recklessly disregarding health and safety.
“That’s not OK,” Rogers said. “We are here today to demand that they take action before it does get worse. I can promise you, being in the health industry, it will. It will come back and probably with a vengeance.”
Protest participants began gathering at noon Sunday in a Lompoc parking lot, where organizers spelled out options: either protest in front of the prisons or take part in a car caravan along the roadway.
Organizers estimated that 200 to 300 people took part in the demonstration and approximately 100 vehicles participated in the procession, although some vehicles were likely normal traffic on Santa Lucia Canyon Road.
Later, around 100 demonstrators gathered at Ryon Park to further air their concerns.
“What a turnout,” said the Rev. Jane Quandt, pastor of Valley of the Flowers United Church of Christ in Vandenberg Village.
The situation inside the prisons has improved recently, something inmates have credited to the attention placed on their plight, she told the crowd.
“I hope you heard their voices today. Did you hear them?” Quandt asked, as people answered affirmatively. “Wasn’t it wonderful? How about the guys up on the hill screaming. It was wonderful.”
As of Sunday, the Bureau of Prisons reported 53 active cases at Lompoc’s U.S. Penitentiary, with 110 recovered.
For the Federal Correctional Institute, some 52 cases remain active with 854 inmates who once tested positive now considered recovered.
“While we’re happy that the numbers are going down right now — wonderfully so— that means this is good time to get them out before the next wave hits,” Quandt said.
“I think that needs to be our priority right now, to figure out how to get the ones who are most vulnerable, who are nonviolent offenders, and get them into house arrest with a monitor.”
Two inmate deaths at the Lompoc prisons have been attributed to COVID-19.
At both facilities, cases for 16 staff members remain active with 24 recovered, according to Sunday’s update.
“In Lompoc, we’ve been very concerned about what’s happening in the prison,” Quandt said, adding that along with the inmates, 500 employees have remained at risk.
Prison representatives have said they took proper precautions for the pandemic, including handing out face masks and other measures. At times, Lompoc ranked first in the national prison system for positive cases, especially after officials implemented universal testing at the complex.
As Sunday’s protest unfolded, a handful of California Highway Patrol officers monitored the proceedings, reportedly stopping some participants for traveling too slowly, sometimes at 5 mph on a roadway with a posted speed limit of 50 mph.
As a precaution, prison staff blocked driveways to the facilities and roads to employee housing.
Some at the demonstration called for an end of mass incarcerations.
Others said inmates should receive tablets so communication with families can resume. Prison officials halted and limited phone and email communications, citing health reasons.
“This is a humanitarian crisis,” said the Rev. Julia Hamilton, minister of the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara. “This is a health crisis. This is a crisis of national proportion.
“These are loved ones and human beings who are treated like they’re disposable. Their basic rights are being denied.”
Basic health care also has been denied as inmates have suffered, family members have alleged.
“We’re not talking rocket science,” Hamilton said. “We’re not asking for the impossible. We’re asking for soap and hot water. We’re asking for a phone call. We’re asking for respect for the families who care about their loved ones, who deserve to know whether they are living or dying.
“This is not hard. It is not impossible. It just requires a will to make it happen, and the people running this prison have not demonstrated basic human decency to do the work required to make sure that during this pandemic every single human soul is treated with care.”
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.