Over 500 inmates in Ariz. test positive for COVID-19

PHOENIX – Arizona corrections officials have said that 517 inmates at the state prison in Tucson have tested positive for the coronavirus even as the overall spread in the state seems to be turning a corner.

And state health officials on Wednesday reported 1,698 newly confirmed coronavirus cases and 87 additional deaths.

The state has documented 182,203 COVID-19 infections and 3,932 deaths overall, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Arizona’s seven-day average for newly reported cases was 2,081.57 as of Tuesday, the lowest since June 19, according to tracking by The Associated Press. The seven-day average of newly reported deaths fell to 62.43, the lowest since July 14.

Nevertheless, corrections officials revealed Tuesday night that almost half the inmates in the Whetstone unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson tested positive for the virus Tuesday amid a push to test all 39,000 state prisoners.

The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry declined to say if the agency or its health care provider had any suspicions or indications on how the virus spread through the inmate population within Whetstone.

Corene Kendrick, an attorney representing inmates in a lawsuit that challenges the quality of health care in Arizona’s prisons, said it’s hard for inmates to socially distance at the Whetstone unit, because prisoners are housed in close quarters in huge dorm rooms. “My concern is whether it will spread to other (prison) yards in Tucson,” Kendrick said.

The American Friends Service Committee-Arizona, which advocates for an end to mass incarceration, says the rate of infection at Whetstone wasn’t an accident, but rather a result of neglect. The group said the Department of Corrections has been slow to take measures to protect inmates, such as waiting too long to provide them with masks.

The agency said it has taken actions to mitigate the spread of the virus at its prisons, such as rigorous symptom checks and other safety measures.

In all, the agency has reported more than 1,400 prisoners have tested positive, and 21 inmates had died from the virus since the pandemic began. Officials say 564 corrections employees have tested positive.