One worker at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and two employees at the Ventress Correctional Facility have tested positive for coronavirus, the Alabama Department of Corrections announced Wednesday.
The announcement means that eight workers at Ventress prison in Clayton have tested positive for COVID-19, and two at Tutwiler. Ten inmates at Ventress have been tested for the virus but none came back positive, according to ADOC’s latest testing update Tuesday. At Tutwiler tests for three inmates all came back negative.
All three workers are self-quarantined, and ADOC is investigating to see if other staff or inmates were exposed to the infected workers, according to ADOC.
“Upon completing the appropriate follow-up interviews and due diligence, OHS will advise any exposed staff members to contact their healthcare providers and self-quarantine for the recommended 14-day period, or as advised by their healthcare provider,” the statement reads.
In total, 24 prison workers have confirmed cases of the virus and six of those have been cleared to return to work.
Nine state inmates have tested positive for coronavirus as of Monday. An inmate who previously tested positive at Hamilton Aged & Infirmed has recovered, according to ADOC. Five of the nine COVID-19 cases among inmates remain active.
As of Monday 125 out of approximately 22,000 state inmates had been tested for coronavirus, according to ADOC.
One inmate, Dave Thomas, 66, a terminally ill man serving a life-sentence at St. Clair Correctional Facility died April 16 after having been taken to a local hospital on April 4. He died less than 24 hours after testing positive for COVID-19, ADOC said in a statement.
On Wednesday ADOC resumed non-emergency medical appointments for inmates. All inmates taken to a local doctor or hospital for non-emergency appointments will be tested for COVID-19 if the physician or prison administrators requests the test, according to ADOC’s press release Wednesday.
“All inmates transferred offsite for medical care, as well as the ADOC security personnel transporting them, will adhere to third-party medical providers’ COVID-19 safety protocols to minimize the potential risk of exposure,” ADOC said in the release.
