Missouri inmates to begin producing hand sanitizer amid COVID-19 outbreak: governor
Update: An earlier version of this story reflected comments by Gov. Parson about the amount of hand sanitizer to be produced. Corrections officials later clarified the amount as 2,400 in total.
Incarcerated people in Missouri will begin producing hand sanitizer as the coronavirus continues to spread across the state, Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday.
More than 2,400 gallons of hand sanitizer in total will be produced by inmates in the Department of Corrections’ Missouri Vocational Enterprises program, corrections officials have said.
“This could continue to be very helpful as we monitor our supply chains,” Parson said. “We will continue using all the tools we have available to provide solutions and protect the health and safety of Missourians during this time.”
The announcement came as Missouri recorded its 28th confirmed case of COVID-19, including several in the Kansas City region. As of Thursday, one person in the state had died from the virus.
On Wednesday, officials said anyone entering a state correctional facility will undergo enhanced screening.
The new procedure will require everyone to answer a series of health-related questions when entering a corrections-related facility, ranging from community supervision centers to the state’s 20 prisons, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said there were no suspected cases of COVID-19 among Missouri’s nearly 26,000 inmates but prison officials were preparing for the possibility. She said there are no plans to release any inmates.
The ACLU has urged Parson to commute the sentence of any inmate considered particularly vulnerable to the virus whose sentence would end within the next two years.
“Missouri has an obligation to its residents to stop the spread of COVID-19 and it cannot do so if it ignores the needs of over 30,000 Missourians currently incarcerated,” Luz María Henríquez, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri, said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 4:57 PM.
