TDCJ reports 25 inmate infections at Telford Unit

NEW BOSTON, Texas — The Texas Department of Criminal Justice reported Wednesday that 25 inmates at the Barry Telford Unit have tested positively for COVID-19.

The number reported Wednesday is the same as the number of positive inmate tests reported Tuesday. However, the agency reports six tests are pending and that six additional inmates are in medical isolation than were in medical isolation Tuesday.

Medical Isolation is “for people who are sick and contagious. Isolation is used to separate ill persons who have a communicable disease from those who are healthy,” TDCJ’s website states.

TDCJ reported the number of employees at Telford who have tested positively for the virus Wednesday at 39, an increase of two employees from the number of positive tests reported

Tuesday. TDCJ reported this week the death Sunday of a Telford correctional officer who died of complications from COVID-19.

The agency reported Wednesday that 858 inmates are in medical restriction, down from the 994 reported Tuesday.

Medical Restriction is “used to separate and restrict the movement of well persons who may have been exposed to a communicable disease to see if they become ill. These people may have been exposed to a disease and do not know it, or they may have the disease but do not show symptoms,” TDCJ’s website states.

Only inmates currently housed at the Telford Unit are included in TDCJ’s reporting for that site. If an offender is moved to another unit, a local hospital or medical facility, they are no longer included in the count for the unit at which they were previously assigned.

Bowie County does not include the number of positive COVID-19 tests among Telford inmates in the county’s total number of positives. Prison employees who test positively are included in the count for the county in which they reside.