Over 500 at lockup have virus

A state lawmaker is pressing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for answers after more than 500 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 at the Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio.

Rep. Philip Cortez, D-San Antonio, wants to know what the agency is doing to minimize the spread of the virus at the jail, where at least 515 inmates — one-third of the total — have confirmed infections. Twenty-nine employees also have tested positive.

One inmate, Paul Alexander Casiano, 51, who was serving a sixyear sentence for a felony assault conviction in Kendall County, died June 27 at a Galveston hospital.

Casiano had tested positive for the virus, and it was a “contributing factor” in his death, TDCJ’s website said.

Three other inmates remained hospitalized in stable conditions as of Friday, down from eight Monday.

Some 441 inmates still had active cases as of Friday. Most were asymptomatic, TDCJ spokesman Jeremy Desel said. Seventy-four inmates have recovered.

Cortez said the spread of the virus within the Dominguez lockup was unacceptable. He asked TDCJ to provide him weekly reports on the situation.

“That would be unbelievable, unbearable and unacceptable if the percentage was to continue to grow,” he said.

“Whether or not they’re asymptomatic or symptomatic, the potential is there for it to become a bigger and bigger problem. And so we have to get to the bottom of it now,” Cortez said.

All Dominguez inmates and staff have been tested at least twice because of a spike in COVID-19 cases across Bexar County, Desel said.

The Dominguez unit is one of many Texas state jails and prisons that imposed lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. As a result, Dominguez inmates don’t have phone privileges and cannot call their families to give updates on their health.

Cortez said he asked TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier earlier this month to allow inmates easier access to communication with their worried relatives.

“The last thing (families are) hearing from their loved one before they go into isolation is, ‘I got COVID-19.’ And then it goes silent,” Cortez said.

He suggested that inmates who tested positive should be allowed to call their families using phones sanitized after each use. Collier seemed receptive, Cortez said.

The legislator said the prison system has been relying on its chaplain staff to deliver messages between infected inmates and their families, but Collier agreed “that’s not working the way he was hoping it would.”

Desel confirmed that TDCJ is reviewing its phone policy and exploring new ways for inmates to connect with their families. “We understand this communication is incredibly important,” he said.

Besides the Dominguez facility, TDCJ officials have been monitoring hundreds of active COVID-19 cases at the Lychner State Jail in Humble, the Stiles prison unit in Beaumont, the Hamilton pre-release unit in Bryan, the Coffield prison unit in Tennessee Colony and the Daniel prison unit in Snyder.

Nearly 13,000 inmates have tested positive statewide, according to TDCJ’s COVID-19 dashboard, a public website that provides daily updates for each facility. More than 9,500 inmates had recovered as of Friday, while more than 2,800 still had active cases of the virus.

To date, 94 TDCJ inmates’ deaths statewide have been connected to COVID-19. An additional 28 deaths are under investigation.

Among TDCJ employees, 2,355 had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday. Ten have died in the line of duty from the virus.