COVID-19 spikes at state prison

COVID-19 is tearing through at an upstate prison where a staggering 242 cases were reported on Tuesday afternoon — up by 164 cases since Monday, and 239 cases since Oct. 1, state Correction Department data show.

The numbers out of Elmira Correctional Facility could be even higher — another 475 coronavirus tests were still pending late Tuesday. So far, eight people have recovered from the disease while another 319 people have tested negative.

The report of the virus’s rapid spread at the prison follows a recent uptick in cases at Greene Correctional Facility.

It also comes one day after the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision confirmed the death of an incarcerated person at Fishkill Correctional Facility — the first COVID-19-related death of a state prisoner since late July.

Eighteen inmates in state prisons have died from COVID-19. Five staffers and four state parolees have also succumbed to the disease.

“These deaths could have been avoided had Gov. Cuomo and [Corrections and Community Supervision] prioritized the release of people especially vulnerable to COVID-19,” said Stefen Short, supervising attorney with the Prisoners’ Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society. The society is “extremely troubled” by the Elmira and Greene outbreaks, Short said.

“We again call on Albany to release our clients and others who are vulnerable to COVID-19,” he said. “If Albany persists in its failure to act, deaths will continue to mount.”

The corrections agency, which quarantines those who test positive, has tested more than 23,500 prisoners for the virus.

The department, which suspended the transfer of people from county jails to state prisons in March to stop the spread, started to resume those operations June 15. Elmira has since halted all inmate transfers.

Those who are moved to correctional facilities must first test negative for coronavirus.