Connecticut inmate dies of COVID-19; fifth this year

Another Connecticut inmate has died of COVID19 complications, marking the fifth incarcerated person to die of the virus since the start of the year and the 18th since the pandemic began.

The 57-year-old man died Friday afternoon following almost three weeks of treatment at an outside hospital after he transferred from the MacDougall-Walker medical isolation unit in Suffield on Jan. 4, the Department of Correction announced Friday evening.

The man suffered from “underlying comorbidities,” but the department did not elaborate further on those conditions or identify the man publicly, citing medical privacy laws.

The man was incarcerated for almost 25 years of a 40-year sentence for arson and murder, which made him ineligible for parole, officials said.

The man is the 11th incarcerated person to die since November as a second wave of the coronavirus sweeps across the state, both in the prison system and throughout the general public.

Another 11 offenders were hospitalized with the virus as of Friday and 95 more are being treated and isolated from other prisoners at the MacDougall-Walker unit, according to the DOC’s online COVID19 dashboard.

The dashboard also reported 109 offenders are currently positive for the virus and experiencing symptoms in addition to 143 asymtomatic inmates — a 40% drop in cases over the past two weeks, according to DOC data. Another 274 staff members are listed as “recovering” from the virus.

Vaccinations have started in earnest across Connecticut, and incarcerated people are included in the Phase 1B program now underway, but state officials said specific dates for offender vaccinations are still under development. State Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe said this past week that DOC and public health officials are working on a plan to start vaccinating offenders beginning with those most vulnerable to the virus because of their age or other medical conditions.