NEW: Oregon prison guards have repeatedly pepper sprayed evacuated prisoners who are trapped in overcrowded facilities and already sick from smoke.

I spoke to folks inside who were sprayed and are struggling to breathe... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/14/oregon-prison-evacuations-pepper-spray-wildfires

As fires approached, Oregon crowded four prison populations into one facility, and violence and fights immediately broke out.

The prison responded by repeatedly deploying pepper spray.

"I couldn’t breathe. When I got sprayed, I had to stick my face into a sink to rinse it off”

“The pepper spray got on everyone. Everyone was coughing and sneezing. There was just so much in the air.”

“My eyes and lungs are still burning and soot is still floating all inside the prison."

“These officers just pull out their cans of spray and start spraying everywhere."

People suffering from pepper spray effects said they were unable to get medical help and some have been wearing the same clothes for a week since evacuated, unable to shower for days. They are sleeping within inches of each other on the floor. They say Covid spread is inevitable.

When evacuations began, prisoners + advocates warned that conflicts would break out when populations from two facilities mixed. They were right. Fights and assaults immediately broke out in the dining area.

A prison spokesperson said pepper spray was used “to gain compliance.”

The pepper spray was so bad that some prisoners with respiratory problems were skipping meals because they couldn't handle the impacts from chemicals in the dining hall, one prisoner told me.

At the same time, the prison is still filled with smoke and horrific air quality.

Civil rights lawyers, prisoners, their loved ones, etc have again urged mass releases, noting that more people will die in these conditions and that the evacuations and transfers could be a Covid "superspreader" event worse than the San Quentin prison outbreak in California.

Some evacuees from women's prison did not receive medications. Some only received two meals a day. Some were put in “bug-infested, unsanitary housing” + in “units where the roof is falling apart."

That's according to Rep Janelle Bynum who confirmed details with corrections dept

John Persinger, 44, evacuated to OSP, told me he was concerned about elderly + at-risk prisoners suffering through =smoke and pepper spray. “It’s a state of emergency. At what point does Governor @OregonGovBrown say, ‘You know what? I need to do something.’”

"Enough is enough."

Even before the pepper spray incidents, Oregon State Penitentiary was already extremely hazardous for many due to the fires + conditions inside. It's an old structure with no HVAC system, so windows are open and people are breathing in smoke and soot and ash.

Not only are there high risks of Covid spread now, but the fires + pepper spray are leading more people to cough, which is increasing risks AND could make them more vulnerable to complications if they're infected. Many already have serious health problems and are at risk of death