Cases, deaths on the rise in state prisons
DOC brings on additional health care workers, increases testing
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the state, the Department of Correction has been hit hard by the second wave of infections as three inmates died in the past week and more than 450 inmates tested positive for the virus.
The number of sick inmates, both symptomatic and otherwise, was drawn from daily statistics provided by the department that show roughly 5% of the state’s 9,100 inmates have COVID-19. All 250 symptomatic inmates are being housed at the medical isolation unit at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, officials said.
Compounding the issue for the
department, which is facing criticism from rights groups and activists for not doing enough to ensure safety, is that about 300 of its 6,000 employees are currently recovering from the virus.
The facilities with the most asymptomatic inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19 are Cheshire Correctional Institution, Hartford Correctional Center and York Correctional Institution, the state’s prison for women.
To respond to the increased presence of the virus, DOCofficials said they have recently added 50 contract health care workers, and have dramatically increased the amount of testing.
“We test the entire population every other week on top of testing upon intake, before release, before an interfacility transfer, before a scheduled appointment in the community, when an individual is identified during contact tracing and ... when someone exhibits symptoms associated with the virus. Direct-contact employees have mandatory testing every week,” said Karen Martucci, the department’s director of communications.
The department has reported three deaths in the past week, four total in December, all involving inmates who were first sequestered in the department’s medical isolation unit at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution before they were transferred to a hospital for further care.
Following the announcement of the most recent death Tuesday, a 69-year-old man, Commissioner Angel Quiros said, “I would be lying if I said that hearing this bad news was not disheartening, but it only strengthens my resolve to continue the agency’s fight to combat the spread of this virus. My condolences go out to his family.”
Quiros took over in the fall after the departure of Rollin Cook, who led the department during its early response to the pandemic. In taking over the department, Quiros has remained focused on how it will handle the second wave. An early move from the new commissioner was to move its medical isolation unit from the state’s super max prison, Northern Correctional Institution, to nearby MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, a facility with more modern infrastructure.
To date, more than 2,800 inmates have contracted coronavirus, and many have recovered, all while the total population has dropped by thousands, in part do to discretionary releases, but also from an apparent decline in pre-trial detentions.
DOC pointed Friday to a Prison Policy Initiative chart that shows its 24% decline in prison population led the nation.
“We continue to focus on the safe release of eligible and suitable incarcerated people,” Martucci said.
DOC has faced harsh criticism from advocates and activists, questioning unsafe conditions in the prisons while pressing leaders to release more inmates.
Several inmates, joined by the ACLU of Connecticut, sued the department in the spring. The parties agreed to a settlement in which the department agreed to enhanced measures to ensure the safety of inmates from face masks for inmates, to increased cleaning of facilities.
“We continue to follow the measures that were mutually agreed upon between the department and the ACLU and memorialized in a legal settlement agreement,” Martucci said.
The ACLU has also been pushing state leaders to prioritize vaccinating the state’s prison population. The Allocations Subcommittee of Connecticut’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group recommended this week adding inmates to the second round of inoculations, expected in January. The recommendation will go before the whole advisory group and then Gov. Ned Lamont. The decision ultimately rests with Lamont.