2 in Homestead are first female Florida prisoners to die of COVID-19, after 21 male fatalities
The first two female deaths from COVID-19 in Florida’s prisons occurred Thursday at Homestead Correctional Institution, according to friends, family and an advocate for female inmates.
Tyra Williams was 41. Josefa Davila was 64.
Their deaths bring the overall toll in the Florida prison system to 23.
A spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections said the department could not confirm the deaths Friday morning.
In the past month, Homestead has become a COVID-19 hot spot, with nearly half of the approximately 660 inmates testing positive. As of Friday morning, 302 inmates and 34 staff had tested positive.
The women’s prison has more inmate infections than any other facility in the Florida Department of Corrections.
Before widespread testing began at the compound in late April, the women were being moved from dorm to dorm in an attempt to sequester people who may have had contact with the initial two women who tested positive.
Across the system, 1,850 inmates and 394 staff members have tested positive. Twenty-nine inmates are in “medical isolation” with symptoms, and 4,298 are in “medical quarantine” after having contact with someone who got sick. Across the system, there are 2,258 pending tests.
According to emails and texts provided to the Miami Herald from advocates, women at Homestead have been reporting loss of taste, loss of smell and coughing for weeks. Women in one dorm reported that an inmate with a 102-degree fever was sent back to the dorm with three Tylenol.
In a public Facebook post Friday, Williams’ cousin, Dasecret Istowin, wrote: “sleep was very uneasy and spirit very bothered last night.”
“Sleep in peace cuz, until we meet on the other side family.”
Debra Bennett, a female inmate advocate and former inmate herself, remembers Williams as being beautiful in “a place devoid of any quality makeup.”
“She was a good conversation and a wise woman,” Bennett said. “Tyra was a vibrant life we didn’t have to lose.”
Williams was sentenced to life in 2009 on first-degree murder charges after a 2-year-old girl she was taking care of died in her custody. Williams was watching the girl while her mother was serving a prison sentence.
Davila was sentenced to 89 years in 2001 on child abuse charges. Her husband, Ricardo Jose Davila, was sentenced to three life terms and 40 additional years. He is currently incarcerated at Everglades Correctional Institution in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. The couple was convicted of beating their 12-year-old son, with electrical cords, belts, ropes and sledgehammers.
This story was updated to reflect Davila’s death.
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 11:35 AM.