The union representing D.C. correctional officers has filed suit in D.C. Superior Court against the city’s Department of Corrections, claiming that the agency is actively putting correctional officers at deadly risk from exposure to the coronavirus.

The suit alleges that the DOC is violating the city’s workplace safety law, which requires workplaces to provide employees a safe environment and prohibits work conditions that could cause death, physical harm, or serious illness. The union is asking for a $10,000 penalty for each violation, for each union member, and for each day that the violation allegedly occurred and continues to occur.

The D.C. Office of the Attorney General, which is representing the city in the lawsuit, is closed for Emancipation Day. The office generally declines to comment on pending litigation.

Currently, a total of 19 jail personnel have tested positive for COVID-19, while another 149 are quarantined after possible exposure or experiencing symptoms, according to city data. Meanwhile, 62 inmates have tested positive, and another 414 are in quarantine in the jail.

The Fraternal Order of Police for D.C., the union which represents the correctional officers in the D.C. Jail, is making a series of allegations against the DOC. Per the suit, jail leadership has purposely misinformed correctional officers about their true risk of contracting COVID-19 in the jail in order to keep them out of quarantine and preserve the workforce.

The suit holds that officers are required to work in the jail “among infected colleagues and inmates” without requisite training, without thorough contact tracing that would help them identify who might be ill, and without enough personal protective equipment, or PPE, to keep them safe. “PPE recommended by the [Centers for Disease Control] is not present at the jail for correctional officers or is in short supply and is hoarded by supervisors under lock and key,” the suit reads.

This isn’t the first time that the union has complained about a lack of PPE: In March, the union took a vote of no confidence in jail leadership after they were required to move a group of 65 inmates into quarantine with only masks and gloves. The officers had requested full protective equipment, including face shields, but were allegedly denied. One inmate reportedly spit in an officer’s face during the move, according to the union.

The city says on its website that it’s providing PPE “to staff working in DOC’s isolation and quarantine units; staff working in the transportation unit; staff who perform medical or escort details with COVID-19 positive or suspect residents; and medical staff responding to positive COVID-19 screens.”

The suit also says that the city is failing to adequately identify, test, quarantine, and isolate inmates.

“Testing is inadequate at the D.C. Jail,” the suit alleges. “Inmates are only tested when it is too late to protect other inmates and staff, and the results take hours to days.” It is also difficult for correctional officers to obtain tests, per the suit. As recently as April 6, correctional officers were allegedly being turned away from a city testing site specifically for first responders.

But officers are getting sick, the suit says, creating staffing shortages that make their jobs more difficult. Officers are unable to social distance from one another during many parts of their jobs, the suit alleges, and are not provided with new spaces or protocols that would allow them to keep more space from one another.

For example, on April 10, a correctional officer learned that she had been in direct contact with an inmate who later tested positive for COVID-19, per the suit, which alleges that the DOC did not quarantine the officer, even after she informed them of her contact with the inmate.

While officers are unable to social distance, the suit alleges, the administrative wing of the jail where the warden works is disinfected thoroughly throughout the day. The director of the jail, Quincy Booth, is not working from the jail at all, per the suit, instead working remotely from the Reeves Center.

The union also alleges that the DOC’s efforts at contact tracing after learning about positive cases leave much to be desired. Per the suit, at least six of the inmates who most recently tested positive for the virus at the jail were among 65 inmates originally quarantined in the jail after a U.S. Marshal at the D.C. Superior Court tested positive for COVID-19. That quarantine was lifted after two days, when the DOC said that an investigation revealed none of those inmates actually had contact with the marshal.

The union is asking for more regular sanitizing and cleaning of jail facilities; an off-site isolation unit for inmates who test positive for COVID-19; PPE for all staff at all entrances and posts; and hand sanitizer for all officers and all inmate cells.

The suit was filed on the heels of a separate federal class action lawsuit by inmates. That suit claims that the D.C. DOC is failing to follow proper protocols and is actively endangering inmates, especially those who are elderly or have preexisting conditions, from exposure to the virus. The correctional officers’ union filed a brief in federal court supporting the class action suit.