“It’s kind of cold. It’s not a way to live your life, for your life to end that way.”
Christopher Walker’s father, Patrick Jones, died on March 28—the first federal prisoner to die from the coronavirus. He was incarcerated in Oakdale, Louisiana, in a facility where four others have since died from the disease. Jones, 49, was serving a 27-year sentence for a drug conviction; the victim of draconian and inequitable sentencing policies, he’d been trying for years to apply for release. In February, a federal judge refused his latest request.
Walker, 33, lives in Dallas and always thought he’d see his father again, that someday, sooner or later, his father would come home. On Saturday, Walker and other members of Jones’ family held a service in Temple, Texas, to say goodbye. Advocates for prisoners are calling for widespread release of people behind bars to protect them from the spreading coronavirus. This is Walker’s story, in his own words, lightly edited for length and clarity.
I heard that my father died from my grandmother. She called me. And then I saw this clip on the internet about the first inmate who died from the coronavirus and at first I thought it could not be him.
It was him…
To read the entire article from Mother Jones, click https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/04/patrick-jones-first-federal-prisoner-death-coronavirus-his-story/
