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The first inmate incarcerated at Fort Dix federal prison, where more than half of the prison population contracted COVID-19, died from the virus, the Bureau of Prisons said.
Myron Crosby, 58, tested positive for the coronavirus in federal prison on December 28 before being taken to a local hospital on January 7 due to “breathing difficulties,” according to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
The agency said his condition “continued to decline after he was admitted to hospital.”
He died on January 22, the BOP said.
Crosby, of Springfield, Mass., Had been incarcerated at Fort Dix since September 2019, serving a 14-year sentence for conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin.
Crosby, according to court documents, had previously warned the BOP and a federal judge that he was susceptible to the deadly effects of COVID-19 due to his health and underlying conditions.
“Sir. Crosby has four significant underlying health conditions that place him at increased risk for serious illness from COVID-19,” wrote Jeffrey Silverstein, his lawyer, in a humanitarian release motion last summer.
Crosby, according to the motion, had severe heart disease and a heart attack at a federal facility in 2015, had a history of kidney problems, was “severely obese” and had type 2 diabetes.
“It seems undisputed that the defendant, although still under 65, has several on high risk conditions that make him particularly more vulnerable to severe COVID illness than others in his age group,” said writes Silverstein.
The request for release was rejected by a federal judge in October.
“Despite his health problems, the nature and seriousness of Mr. Crosby’s offense, his criminal history and the dangerousness of the community’s lawyer against his release,” wrote US District Judge John A. Woodcock Jr ..
Silverstein did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his client’s death.
Crosby tested positive for the virus in the middle of the second major outbreak at Fort Dix during the pandemic. The prison has the highest number of positive cases of any prison in the federal system with more than 1,400 inmates testing positive – more than half of the low-security prison’s prison population, according to the BOP.
“Your honor, this is a cry for help,” one inmate wrote to a federal judge on January 2. “I am in the midst of the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the federal prison system and I am sick. I don’t want to die here. Please send me home where I can get the medical help I need. “
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