Telford infected count adjusted for relocations

NEW BOSTON, Texas — Changes in the way the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is reporting COVID-19 statistics and the relocation of some inmates has resulted in a drop in the count of infected inmates at the Barry Telford Unit.

TDCJ reported Monday that 25 inmates at Telford are positive for COVID19. The number of inmates with tests pending results at Telford was reported Monday at one.

TDCJ Communications Director Jeremy Desel said the prison system lends itself to quick-and-accurate contact tracing. He said that because the movement of every inmate is well-documented, it has not been difficult to identify possibly-exposed inmates who need to be placed in medical restriction.

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 site states.

Inmates at Telford in medical restriction was reported Monday at 988.

Desel said the number of inmates listed as recovered is rising statewide and that the “vast majority” of inmates who’ve contracted COVID-19 in TDCJ have not needed medical attention outside their assigned units.

TDCJ reported Monday 26 inmates in medical isolation at Telford. 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 reported Monday that 29 staff members at Telford have tested positive for COVID-19. The number of Telford inmates who test positive is not included in the total number of infections for Bowie County, where the prison is located.

Staff at Telford who test positive are included in the count for the county in which they reside.