Eight more Vermont inmates at a privately run Mississippi prison have tested positive for Covid-19.
The total number of Vermont prisoners who have now tested positive for the coronavirus in the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi, now stands at 184. That means 84% of the 219 inmates from Vermont at that prison have tested positive for Covid-19.
James Baker, interim corrections commissioner, said during a press conference last week that 176 Vermont prisoners at the Mississippi prison had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Additional test results have since come in, with eight more coming back positive, Rachel Feldman, a corrections spokesperson, said Tuesday.
Those eight additional inmates who have had test results come back positive for the coronavirus had tested negative for Covid-19 in earlier rounds of testing at the Mississippi facility, according to Feldman.
Vermont sends inmates it does not have a capacity to hold in Vermont to the Mississippi facility, which is operated by CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison operators in the country.
A breakdown for the 219 Vermont inmates at the out-of-state prison shows:
— 184 have tested positive for Covid-19.
— 30 have tested negative for the coronavirus.
— 4 have refused to be tested and are in restrictive housing.
— 1 test is pending.
The outbreak was detected at the start of the month when the department reported 85 prisoners from Vermont at the Mississippi prison had tested positive for the coronavirus, and shortly after that number shot up to 146.
The testing of Vermont inmates in Mississippi took place after six inmates from that out-of-state prison were returned to the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland.
Of the now 184 Vermont inmates in Mississippi who have tested positive for the coronavirus, 153 of those are considered to be in “recovery,” Feldman, the DOC spokesperson, said Tuesday.
Vermont Department of Health guidelines say a person is considered in recovery if they remain symptom-free for at least 10 days in a row.
No Vermont inmates in Mississippi who have tested positive for Covid-19 are currently hospitalized, Feldman said.
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose department includes the state’s Prisoners’ Rights Office, said Tuesday that since the outbreak started in Mississippi with such a large number of inmates initially testing positive for Covid-19, he is not surprised that so many others have been infected.
“When you’re at that number you can safely assume everyone is infected,” Valerio said. “Everything we’re doing is working on that assumption that everyone is positive.”
He said Mississippi is one of the state’s with the highest Covid-19 infection rates and the county where the prison is located is among the counties with the highest rates in the nation.
“They’re the hottest spot in the country,” Valerio said.
He said with guards coming and going in and out of the prison it’s not surprising that the virus would spread to the inmates.
“Once it gets in, it’s in,” Valerio said, adding “Now we have to make sure people get the treatment that they need.”
The state’s contract with CoreCivic expires in October, and, prior to the outbreak, Vermont corrections officials had said they were working on a renewal. Now, those talks appear to have been put on hold.
Vermont paid CoreCivic about $6.8 million last year to house its inmates.
Inmates from Vermont are kept in separate housing units from other prisoners held at the Mississippi prison. The prison has a total of more than 2,000 beds for inmates and CoreCivic contracts with other states and federal authorities to house prisoners at the facility.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont inmates in Mississippi testing positive for Covid-19 climbs to 84%.