Derrick Howard
On December 3, 2020, Derrick Demetrius Howard, 51, passed away at a hospital near the United States Penitentiary Tucson in Arizona, where he resided up until the time of his death. Derrick was born on August 29, 1969 as the sixth of eight children. He grew up in Normandy, a suburb of St. Louis, where he first got the street name “The Black Italian Snake” when he was in his late teens.
Derrick was loved by his family, and his sister Pam Howard remembers him as a very bright and intelligent person. Derrick’s father Vernado Howard told the Riverfront Times that Derrick “helped a lot of people in prison.” Vernado fondly recalled one of his final memories with Derrick: visiting Derrick at the federal prison in Florida where he was housed at the time. Vernado glanced at a picture of him and his son standing outside of the prison and remarked, “A good day.”
A photograph of Derrick with his father, Vernado Howard, obtained from Riverfront Times.
Derrick’s death marks another incidence in a long train of failures by the prison medical-care system to provide transparency and adequate care for sick prison residents and their families. Derrick had many underlying health conditions including obesity, hypertension, asthma, and chronic lung disease. Derrick’s federal public defender, Diane Dragan, told Riverfront Times, “[Derrick] did say if he got COVID he’d die because he had lung issues.”
Sadly, Derrick tested positive for COVID on October 22. Four days later, he was taken to a nearby hospital in Tucson. He was placed on a ventilator on October 31, and it was only at this point that Derrick’s family was notified of his condition. A short while later, a hospital staff member told Derrick’s family that they could say goodbye to him only if they agreed to take him off the ventilator. They refused, sacrificing their ability to say goodbye to their loved one, and Derrick was taken off the ventilator anyway the next day. According to medical records, Derrick’s condition improved and he was sent to a nearby rehabilitation center, but a few days later, his heart suddenly stopped. Derrick was taken to the emergency room of a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Derrick’s family could not contact him once in the six weeks between his first positive COVID test and his death. Pam Howard said to Riverfront Times that she felt “very angry and heartbroken because our brother was in the hospital that long, and we didn't get a chance to contact him, to write him a letter.” Pam and her family do not even know the exact cause of Derrick’s death because an internal autopsy was never performed. Derrick suffered a fall in the rehab center soon before he died, which could have played a role in his passing. Derrick’s body was also never tested for COVID posthumously to confirm that the virus truly caused his death.
“I just don't understand why we couldn't see him, or get any information from the hospital,” Pam said. “I won’t be satisfied until we get the last 24 hours of his medical records.”
This memorial was written by MOL team member Mary John with information from reporting by Mike Fitzgerald of Riverfront Times and a press release by the Bureau of Prisons.