Banner flies over Lompoc prison to show support for inmates during pandemic
LOMPOC, Calif. - A large banner flew over Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex Saturday morning as a show of support for inmates who had to endure the COVID-19 pandemic behind bars.
The event was originally scheduled for February, but high winds delayed the plane from taking off.
The long banner read "FCC Prisoners You Are Not Forgotten."
Originally, organizers planned to release dozens of balloons designed to fly in the sky over the prison.
However, a local organization called Heal the Ocean stepped in and offered to pay for a plane flyover in order to prevent ocean pollution caused by the mylar balloons.
“Heal the Ocean doesn’t like to say, ‘NO, don’t do this!’ rather than present an alternative,” said Heal the Ocean Executive Director Hillary Hauser. “Our staff put our heads together, thought of bubble blowing and who knows what else, before we landed on the idea of an aerial banner in the sky.”
The Love Your Inmate group, organized by Chrissie Rogers, worked with family members of inmates at Lompoc FCC to host the event in order to bring awareness to multiple COVID-19 outbreaks that occurred at the prison since March of 2020.
During those outbreaks, more than than 1,000 inmates and staff members at the prison were infected. Four inmates passed away.
The outbreak prompted a federal class-action lawsuit filed May 16, 2020, by the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of five inmates, who are seeking alternative confinement due to the prison's response to the virus.
