Four inmates in Missouri women’s prison in isolation waiting for COVID-19 test results
Four inmates at a prison in Vadalia, Missouri, are isolated while they wait for results of COVID-19 tests after a staff member tested positive last week.
No new inmates have been placed in isolation this week at the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center, the Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said in an email Wednesday.
The number of inmates awaiting test results was last updated Tuesday afternoon, Pojmann said.
The staff member who tested positive on Saturday had not been in the facility since April 14, Pojmann said.
Since the beginning of the month, Pojmann said, seven inmates have tested negative for the rapidly spreading virus.
The women’s prison is one of four in Missouri with confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections website.
Cases have been confirmed at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston and the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron.
In total, 13 staff members and four inmates in the Missouri Department of Corrections have tested positive for the virus.
The first virus-related death in the system was reported on April 7.
Advocates in Missouri have expressed concern for the incarcerated, saying that social distancing is nearly impossible in prisons. More than three dozen people and organizations have called for the release of certain detainees.
