As COVID spread in federal prisons, many at-risk inmates tried and failed to get out

Ron Shehee had been at the federal prison complex in Lompoc, Calif., only a few months when the pandemic struck. (Meron Menghistab for NPR)

In a federal prison in Springfield, Mo., Waylon Young Bird quietly wrote a letter to a federal judge.

“Greetings sir, just a quick letter concerning the pandemic of the coronavirus,” Young Bird wrote. “Many of us are at high risk of getting this virus because of our health conditions, the overcrowding conditions here and the uncleanliness of this prison medical center.”

It was March 15, 2020. That day, New York City announced it was shutting down its public schools, Dr. Anthony Fauci went on network television to prepare Americans to “hunker down significantly,” and states began closing their bars and restaurants. It was beginning to dawn on many people that something life-altering was already happening. And it was dawning on Young Bird too.