After Relentless “Mandated” Overtime, Two Dallas Jailers Died From Covid. Mandating Persists To This Day.

On August 1, Porsha Bookman took to Facebook to share her complaints about her job at the Dallas County Jail.

“I’ve just been commissioned again !!!!” Bookman posted on Aug 1st. She added the hashtags #wannabefree and # 8morehourstogo.

Nineteen days later, the 36-year-old died of COVID-19 complications.

Five days before her death, another Dallas County detention officer died as a result of COVID-19. Darren Finney died on August 19, leaving two children.

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Both Bookman and Finney died after months of “mandated” 16-hour shifts. The prison guards confirmed that they have all signed up for two 16-hour shifts a week, but are now forced to work up to five in a row on a regular basis.

On August 20, the day after Bookman’s death, the Dallas Service Officers Twitter account, operated by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, tweeted a message of condolence to Bookman and Finney’s families. The tweet didn’t mention the causes of Bookman and Finney’s deaths.

“@Dallas_Sheriff recently lost two detention officers. #DSODamonFinney on August 14th and DSO #DSOPorshaBookman on August 19th. Please keep family members and their co-workers in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time of loss, ”the tweet read.

The deaths of Bookman and Finney mark the deadliest aftermath of the coercive practices the county has used to occupy the Dallas County prison since the pandemic began.

Several prison guards told the Observer that prison guards were intimidated by threats from internal affairs investigations by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office to work 16-hour shifts for up to five consecutive days. The threats continued even after they submitted written medical orders restricting their working hours.

Just about a week before Finney’s death, another Dallas County DSO (who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation) finished a fourth straight day of 16-hour shifts. The officer had been working since the afternoon of the previous day and was struggling to remain conscious while making his rounds in the group of inmates assigned to him.

“#iwannabefree” – Porsha Bookman, Dallas County Jail

tweet that The officer was relieved when his last shift ended in early August. Exhausted, they nodded off behind the wheel on the drive home and rammed their Camry into a fire hydrant a few minutes away from home.

The doctor whom the officer visited after the accident said: “It is important that this patient has AT LEAST 12 consecutive hours off for the next few weeks to get enough sleep or he is at risk of serious harm and disability” , obtained medical records from the Observer show.

After the two weeks passed, the officer returned to the doctor for another examination. The doctor issued a written instruction stating that it would take the officer at least three more weeks without 16-hour shifts to recover from the exhaustion that caused the crash.

His superiors didn’t.

On September 9, less than a month after his colleague Damon Finney died of COVID-19, the senior lieutenant of the officers told him, “If you can’t work the 16 hours, you can’t work,” they said.

Several other officials also described being at risk of reduced or canceled working hours for failing to perform the “mandatory” consecutive 16-hour shifts.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s office has not responded to multiple requests for comments from the Observer. Several county commissioners have also declined to come on record or ignored repeated requests for comment.

Emmanuel Lewis, an officer at the Dallas County Jail, said the pressure on the officers resulted in punishing inmates.

“The inmates are not well looked after. When they’re in a fight, they’re not getting the quality response time, ”said Lewis.

“It’s not good for their safety. They don’t get the detergents they need, they can’t go to court when they need it,” he said.

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